Catherine Lee of the Maine-based Justice for Women lecture series, left, moderates a discussion Wednesday at Bates College with two Kenyans who are helping girls with disabilities. Maria Omare, right, is the founder and executive director of the Kenya-based Action Foundation while Juliet Muema is an athlete and a program director for the foundation. Steve Collins/Sun Journal

LEWISTON — Two Kenyan women, who have devoted their lives to helping girls with disabilities, told a Bates College audience Wednesday to join the effort to empower every woman and fight discrimination.

“The whole world needs a mind change,” said Maria Omare, the founder and executive director of the Kenya-based Action Foundation.

Omare and Juliet Muema, a program director for the foundation, spoke as part of the annual weeklong Justice for Women lecture series in Maine.

“It’s up to us to treat people with disabilities with respect,” said Catherine Lee, who oversees the Justice for Women series. “Don’t assume anything.”

Omare said she got interested in the field when she volunteered to help with the Special Olympics in Nairobi during college more than 15 years ago. What she saw caused her to start a club focused on those with disabilities.

“That experience changed my life trajectory,” Omare said.

She went on to start a foundation that now serves 20,000 girls and women in Kenya, expanding its program to provide a range of services to help them secure education, jobs and the same rights as everyone else.

Omare said people with disabilities face discrimination everywhere, including Maine, but it is worse for some in Kenya, where parents sometimes keep them “isolated from peers” and even keep them chained inside to prevent them from going outside.

In some families, children with disabilities are the last to eat every meal so that if someone comes up short nutritionally, it’s them, Omare said.

“There is a lot of stigma,” she said, though the nation’s laws call for equality.

Muema, a para-cycler who is losing her sight, said that sports proved therapeutic for her.

She almost got the chance to compete at the Paralympic Games this summer in Paris, which she qualified for, but the tandem bicycle she needed never came through after an embezzlement.

Muema said, though, she will be competing in future international competitions.

After getting help, she said, “I feel like I am reenergized.”

Omare said the problem for many girls with disabilities is that they hear “you cannot, you cannot, you should not” over and over instead of being urged and assisted to do everything they can.

She said her charity has been able to lend a hand because it takes a broad approach to deal with families, students, schools and more.

“Going deep has excellent results,” she said.

Muema said she wants to change how people view disabilities.

“I am a person just like every other person,” she said. “I am a woman, just any other woman.”

It’s time to “end stigma, end discrimination,” she said, and unleash everyone’s potential.

“All of us need a little help,” Omare said.