For Halima Shariff Abdulkadir, climate action has a simple test: are women with disabilities in the room where decisions are made? If they are not, she believes, then climate action is neither inclusive nor complete.
At 53, Halima has experienced firsthand how emergencies can affect people with disabilities differently.
“For a woman who cannot hear a river bursting its banks, a flood carries a different kind of danger,” she says.
For someone using a mobility device, a washed-out road or a gully carved overnight can make a familiar journey impossible. For someone with low vision, an approaching disaster may be difficult to see.
These are not hypothetical concerns for Halima. They are shaped by her own experiences.
Born and raised in Olkiramatian Group Ranch, Kajiado, Halima grew up as a Somali pastoralist girl and attended Olkiramatian Arid Zone Primary School before joining Moi Girls Isinya for secondary education.
School was difficult. Living with a physical disability, she had no access to assistive devices, which were largely unknown and unavailable.
“My school was several kilometres from home, and I had to make that arduous journey on foot every day with great difficulty,” she recalls.
She was mocked by other children who imitated the way she walked, while teachers offered little understanding. When her disability made her late, she faced the same punishment as other pupils.
Secondary school brought another set of challenges. At boarding school, she endured bullying from older girls and the strain of severe water shortages.
“We had to walk to a nearby centre just to fetch water – an immense physical toll for a student already struggling with mobility,” she says.
Her experiences would later shape an advocacy journey focused on women with disabilities and their place in decisions affecting their lives.
A turning point came after an accident in 2012, when she acquired additional disabilities affecting her hearing, vision and nerves. She now lives with multiple disabilities, including a nerve condition that causes pain and dizziness in heat, stiffness in cold, hearing impairment requiring devices in both ears, mobility challenges and low vision.
She also experienced gender-based violence and corporate discrimination. After acquiring additional disabilities while working for a contractor, she says she was laid off.
“As a woman with multiple disabilities and a survivor of gender-based violence, I have also experienced discrimination at the intersection of gender, disability and identity,” she says.
The experiences strengthened her resolve to advocate for women facing similar barriers.
She founded Women of Hope Abled Differently (WHAD), which began as a self-help group where she was elected chairperson. She later became its founder and chief executive officer, as well as a Persons with Disabilities Representative at the Secretariat of the Kenya Devolution CSOs Working Group and a leader within the Indigenous People with Disabilities Alliance Kenya.
Her advocacy has increasingly focused on climate change, particularly the ways climate emergencies expose gaps in disaster preparedness and response.
In 2024, heavy seasonal rains in Nguruman, Magadi Ward, Kajiado County, washed away homes, destroyed crops and carved deep gullies and new channels through the landscape. Halima lost her own farm.
But what stayed with her was not only the destruction. It was the vulnerability of people with disabilities who struggled to escape, access essential services or receive timely assistance.
“For persons with disabilities, the disaster does not necessarily end when the water goes down,” she says.
She recalls Mzee Nkarja Saruni, an elderly man with visual impairment whose home was surrounded and cut off by floodwaters without emergency support.
Julius Kasifu, a physically challenged man, was similarly stranded after floodwaters swallowed his home, leaving him unable to get out to shop, access medical care or reach safety, Halima says.
Eventually, the Kenya Red Cross and county government mobilised relief, but the response exposed another problem.
“Standard relief assumes everyone can walk,” Halima says.
For her, disaster preparedness must therefore begin before an emergency strikes. It must include people with disabilities in planning, budgeting and decision-making.
On September 18, 2026, WHAD brought together 25 participants at the Chief’s Office in Lemelepo, Kajiado County, for a Community Ambassadors Training supported by Inclusive Climate Change Adaptation for a Sustainable Africa (ICCASA) through its Strengthening the Voices of Women with Disabilities to Actively Participate in Climate Change Policy and Negotiations (STREVOW) programme.
The training focused on strengthening women’s voices in climate governance and accountability. Participants included persons with disabilities, a National Government Administrative Officer, a Community Health Promoter, a community elder, WHAD partners and media personnel.
Discussions covered disability rights, county climate governance, the County Climate Change Fund and Ward Climate Change Councils.
“When the floods come, the river bursts, and we can’t hear, and if you don’t have somebody near you, you face danger,” Halima says.
For women who have participated in her programmes, the training has also translated into practical preparation.
Peenoi Moroko, an elderly woman with a disability and a member of WHAD, says Halima’s mentorship has helped her understand climate action and prepare for El Niño.
“I have done repairs on the animal sheds, erected several tanks to collect water, and done repairs on the house. I’m very much prepared for El Niño,” she says.