Youth with different disabilities have been urged not to underrate themselves due to their disability status but rather rise up and consider themselves as assets of the country’s development.

Chancellor College Students Union president, Godfrey Phunyanya, who is also one of the youth with albinism, said youth with various disabilities must always trust themselves that they have capabilities to carry out any task including leadership positions.

He emphasized that youth with disabilities have a potential but it can only be exposed if they liberate from a syndrome of underestimate themselves.

Phunyanya said: “The archaic syndrome of undervaluing ourselves has greatly contributed to the failure by the youth with disabilities to deliver because we think we can’t take a leading role in the society a thing which I strongly oppose.”

He cited his example saying despite belonging to a minority group of people with albinism but he took courage and won the presidency of the Chancellor College students union after a stiff competition with other students.

However, Phunyanya expressed worry that government is lagging behind when it comes to the implementation of policies aimed at promoting the youth with different disabilities.

“Government is not doing enough to empower the youth with disabilities because the Ministry of Gender, Children, Disability and Social Welfare is failing to implement most of the policies aimed at empowering the youth with disabilities.”

He suggested that each and every physical year budget must accommodate new platforms aimed at promoting their welfare.

According to 2018 Malawi population and housing census, out of a total population of 17, 563, 749 people in the country, 1, 556, 670 are persons with disabilities representing 10.4 percent.