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QUINCY MWIYA

Quincy is a single man aged 30 year; he comes from Africa and lives in Zambia. He is a person with an Intellectual disability and a Council member of the Inclusion International. In the council, he represents the region called Inclusion Africa and Indian Ocean. Quincy is also a self advocate member of Africa Network for developmental Disability (ANDD) He is also an active member of a national organization in Zambia called Zambia association for Children and Adults with Learning Disabilities (ZACALD).

With the help from ZACALD, ANDD, NFU, Inclusion International and UN-DESA, Quincy was able to attend the UN 7 and 8th AD HOC Session on the rights of persons with disabilities and was an instrument in that process as a self advocate, particularly for Africa. This experience exposed Quincy to levels where he now feels confident to talk about human rights for persons with disabilities.

At birth Quincy appeared to have had no disability at all, but between the ages of four to six years, the mother had started noticing certain signs of disability in the child. At the age of seven, Quincy was enrolled in grade one in the mainstream of education. During that time, it was evident that Quincy had an intellectual disability and could not match with the rest of pupils in that class. As the result of his condition, Quincy was put in a special class that accommodated only persons with disability who they referred to as mentally retarded. Quincy was prompted to prematurely leave school because the other students thought that he could not learn. However, he felt much offended because he knew how important education was for him. When he left school, he continued living with his family

Quincy was fortunate enough, the government had introduced skills training courses that included persons with special needs especially persons with intellectually disabilities, his application was accepted at Livingstone Trades Centre and he successfully completed his course in Home Management.

Quincy go a contract job for one year with a large hotel in Zambia, he then got another one with an NGO called ZAEPD as a Restaurant Manager. This meant that, he had to leave home and live in another town where his services were needed.

He is a living example that having a disability does not prevent them from living in the community.

Quincy’s dream is to see that people with intellectual disabilities are also part of the solution to many problems that they face and that they should fight for their rights at all levels. To do that, he is planning to embark on self advocacy training program for people with intellectual disabilities in the region.