Stories / Disability and inclusion /

From classroom to career

IT Bridge Academy graduate Lyne shares how she overcame barriers and disability discrimination to secure her dream job.

Image © Sightsavers/Rachel Okwar

In today’s digital world, IT skills are essential and highly in demand. Our IT Bridge Academy is helping young people with disabilities get hands-on training and experience to jumpstart their careers in the IT sector.

The IT Bridge Academy in Kenya welcomed its first cohort in 2021. Since then, more than 140 students have donned their graduation caps and many have gone on to successful careers in the tech industry.

The academy is unique because of the practical nature of the curriculum, with students being trained on industry-standard technology and equipment and graduating with Cisco-certified security training credentials.

We spoke to Lyne, one of the academy’s graduates who is now a technical support engineer at a professional services firm in Nairobi, about how her training helped kickstart her career in IT.

“They judge you because of your disability, or they judge you for being a lady”

Lyne

“I did a bachelor of science in applied mathematics and physics. But I still had the zeal to do IT. I couldn’t have joined IT directly. I needed a bridge to narrow that gap … whereby IT Bridge [Academy] came through.

“At the IT Bridge Academy, it was mostly about networking. When I started, I knew IT was all about software. We were taught networking and infrastructure. All those commands and the CLI (command line interface) that were being used then is what is taking me through in my career right now.”

Supported by our donors and in partnership with the National Industrial Training Authority in Kenya and the United Disabled Persons of Kenya, the IT Bridge Academy is accessible to students from all backgrounds, and for Lyne, this was especially important.

She says: “Being able to venture into IT with the support of the IT Bridge Academy is one of the important things that I appreciate. Securing and gaining knowledge about IT with zero cost – I don’t take it for granted.”

“I was prepared for the professional path that I am into”

The curriculum the students follow has been adapted from Cisco’s existing IT training to be more accessible for people with disabilities. With more than 12,000 academies around the world, the course has been extremely successful and boasts a 90% employability rate in the USA.

Lyne credits the hands-on nature of the IT Bridge Academy for training her for the industry. “I was prepared for the professional path that I am into,” she says. “In the IT Bridge Academy, we had real devices to do the configuration. Having that, you are prepared to go to a production environment, and you know what you want from the clients.”

For Lyne, the IT Bridge Academy also offered invaluable connections to the IT industry. “The academy created a big network for me,” she says. “First, I was an intern at Safaricom, in the security operations centre team, and even the job I have now was through the WhatsApp group for IT Bridge Academy. I’m now a technical support engineer in a private organisation that is a Microsoft partner. They do cloud computing, so my main focus is the infrastructure. I design, I maintain, I do the computing and I do the architecture. I ensure that cloud journeys are much easier.”

“The academy created a big network for me”

Lyne

Graduates from the IT Bridge Academy pose for a group photo. They're wearing graduation robes and hats. Students using wheelchairs are seated in the front row.

“We had a lot of support”

In 2025, the IT Bridge Academy was honoured at the African Networking Academy Conference and recognised as the best-performing Cisco academy in the world.

The voting panel looked at the academy’s commitment to increasing student enrolments, offering inclusive learning opportunities, a successful pass rate (more than 90% and supporting students (particularly those from marginalised backgrounds) to achieve academic success. Two of the academy’s trainers, Geofrey Kitoto and Benjamin Mutinda, were also recognised at the event and received awards for their teaching.

Lyne is grateful for the support she received through the project. “At the IT Bridge Academy, we had a lot of support,” she says. “We could reach out to our instructors any time we needed them … I have to appreciate our trainer, Allan Onyango. Allan was not just there to teach us; he was also mentoring us. He is still mentoring me. Making that connection is one of the important things that I experienced at the IT Bridge Academy.”

Did you know?

Women with disabilities are two times less likely to be employed than men without disabilities

It will take five generations to close the global gender gap at current progress

244 million women worldwide lack internet access compared to men

Sources: UN Women, WEF, ITU

1 / 3

“Don’t focus on your disability, look at your ability”

Students often faced barriers and disability discrimination before joining the academy. Lyne, who is from Migori County, describes her home environment as somewhere where people lack awareness about disability, and sometimes see it as a curse.

Women with disabilities often face double discrimination too. One of the core principles of the IT Bridge Academy is to support more women to join the IT sector and close the digital gender divide. As a result, each cohort of the academy has a 50/50 gender ratio.

Lyne also says that the academy taught her skills to help deal with prejudice. “The one priority that I was taught in IT Bridge Academy is just focus, focus on what you’re doing,” she explains. “They judge you because of your disability, or they judge you for being a lady. In IT, there’s this separation, like, ladies in IT, they don’t know what they are doing. You have a disability and then you are venturing into men’s spaces. Being at the IT Bridge Academy, I anticipated these challenges and faced them. I’m not any different.”

As a woman with a disability who is now working in the IT sector, Lyne has some words of advice to anyone looking to follow in her footsteps: “If you look at your disability as a barrier, you’ll never move. So, don’t focus on your disability, look at your ability.”

What’s next for the IT Bridge Academy?

We’re building on the success of the academy in Nairobi and began welcoming students at two new academies in Lagos and Kano in Nigeria in 2023. Graduates have already gone on to successful careers in the IT sector within some of the biggest telecommunications companies in Africa, such as MTN Nigeria where five graduates are working in their IT team.

We’re also looking at developing academies in other countries across Africa in the near future. We want every IT Bridge Academy to throw open the doors of the tech industry to create more opportunities for young people with disabilities, equip them with the skills to secure jobs or start their own businesses, and harness the potential of technology to create a more equal world for everyone.

Watch this space and follow us at @Sightsavers on social media to see the progress of the IT Bridge Academy.

Learn how we’re supporting inclusion in employment

Our employment work

We protect sight, fight disease and make sure everyone can claim their rights.

Find out how your support can make a huge difference and change lives.

From classroom to career

IT Bridge Academy graduate Lyne shares how she overcame barriers and disability discrimination to secure her dream job.

Did you know?

Women with disabilities are two times less likely to be employed than men without disabilities

It will take five generations to close the global gender gap at current progress

244 million women worldwide lack internet access compared to men

Learn how we’re supporting inclusion in employment

More stories

“Usually, men tell their wives not to go to hospital”

“Now my sight has improved, I hope to earn more”

“Women don’t get easy access to employment opportunities”

Protecting sight, fighting disease and promoting equality for all

We protect sight, fight disease and make sure everyone can claim their rights.

Find out how your support can make a huge difference and change lives.

From classroom to career

IT Bridge Academy graduate Lyne shares how she overcame barriers and disability discrimination to secure her dream job.

The IT Bridge Academy wins award

Did you know?

Women with disabilities are two times less likely to be employed than men without disabilities

It will take five generations to close the global gender gap at current progress

244 million women worldwide lack internet access compared to men

Learn how we’re supporting inclusion in employment

More stories

“Usually, men tell their wives not to go to hospital”

“Now my sight has improved, I hope to earn more”

“Women don’t get easy access to employment opportunities”

Protecting sight, fighting disease and promoting equality for all