By Stephen Dhieu Kuach
On this day we can remember how we have walked, sometime crawling, sometimes carried by hope alone, sometimes refusing to surrender even when the world turned its back.
South Sudan’s disability movement has risen from war, displacement, and silence. We are a nation where nearly one in five people live with some form of disability, many caused by conflict, malnutrition, preventable disease, and lack of access to basic services. For too long, we were invisible—hidden in huts, ignored in classrooms, dismissed in offices, and left behind in development plans.
But in the last six years, we have planted seeds of justice:
new laws, new policies, new institutions, and—most importantly—a new national conscience.
We are in process of passing the Persons with Disabilities Act. We have established the Disability Council. We have integrated disability into state budgets, social protection, and national development frameworks. We have written our commitments in ink.
Yet the reality remains—implementation still limps behind our promises.
Paper rights must become lived rights. Inclusion on documents must echo in classrooms, hospitals, courts, police stations, humanitarian response, and employment sectors where persons with disabilities still face barriers every single day.
Today, I raise my voice in deep gratitude:
To H.E. President Salva Kiir Mayardit, who signed the CRPD into law on 23 February 2023, carving a legal and moral path for dignity.
To H.E. Vice President Mama Rebecca Nyandeng de Mabior, who stood beside me through every step of the ratification journey, ensuring that disability rights became a national priority.
To Dr. Martin Elia Lomuro, Minister of Cabinet Affairs, who shepherded the process across ministries with discipline and clarity.
To the Ministry of Gender, Child and Social Welfare, for guarding the vision of inclusivity with consistency and courage.
To the National Legislative Assembly and Rt. Hon. Speaker Jemma Nunu Kumba, who breathed parliamentary life into the law.
And to the Organizations of Persons with Disabilities, the heartbeat of this struggle—our conscience, our backbone, and our unbroken spirit. Without your advocacy, no law would exist. Without your persistence, no reform would stand.
But gratitude alone will not build ramps.
Praise alone will not open classrooms.
Speeches alone will not end discrimination.
No nation rises higher than the dignity it guarantees to its most vulnerable.
Across the world, 1.3 billion people—16% of humanity—live with disabilities. The CRPD reminds us that disability is not charity; it is rights, justice, equality, and full citizenship. South Sudan must walk this path with integrity.
We must:
- Make schools accessible so every child learns, not just the lucky few.
- Ensure health services, including eye care and mobility aids, reach every community.
- Create employment pathways that recognize ability, not disability.
- Invest in inclusive infrastructure—roads, offices, ICT, transport, and public buildings.
- Bring disability into every policy, every budget, every development plan.
- Protect women and girls with disabilities from violence and exclusion.
- Strengthen OPDs, for nothing about us should ever be done without us.
A nation is judged by how it treats those who walk slowly, see differently, or hear softly.
South Sudan must choose to be a nation of justice—not someday, but today.
Let us turn promises into action.
Let us turn signatures into change.
Let us turn laws into dignity.
Let us ensure that no person with a disability is left behind as South Sudan rises.
Stephen Dhieu Kuach
Director of Disability Affairs
Ministry of Presidential Affairs
Email: dr.stephen.dhieu@gmail.com