Your Disability Does Not Define You – Orben Muluti
Nothing about persons with disabilities should be decided without their voices. That message has shaped Namibian Organisation of Youth with Disabilities (NOYD) chairperson Orben Muluti’s work for years, from challenging discrimination as a schoolboy to representing persons with disabilities in some of Namibia’s highest decision-making spaces. Muluti has become one of the country’s leading disability […] The post Your Disability Does Not Define You – Orben Muluti appeared first on The Namibian .
Nothing about persons with disabilities should be decided without their voices.
That message has shaped Namibian Organisation of Youth with Disabilities (NOYD) chairperson Orben Muluti’s work for years, from challenging discrimination as a schoolboy to representing persons with disabilities in some of Namibia’s highest decision-making spaces.
Muluti has become one of the country’s leading disability rights advocates, using his leadership roles to push for greater inclusion, equal employment opportunities and stronger partnerships between the government and organisations of persons with disabilities.
Beyond the boardrooms and policy debates, he is also a father, a football fan and someone whose own life has been marked by close encounters with prejudice and danger, including surviving an attempted trafficking incident as a child.
The Namibian spoke to Muluti on the ‘WeSpeak’ podcast, a platform that gives persons with disabilities the opportunity to tell their own stories under the slogan, ‘Nothing About Us Without Us’.
Q: You hold important leadership roles in disability advocacy. What drives your work
A: These are not jobs I applied for.
I found myself in spaces of advocacy with people who shared the same vision of inclusion. Others believed I could help carry the message, so they asked me to lead.
I accepted because I believe in service and in being a voice for people who are often not heard.
