Nelson founded the Twezuule Foundation, a nonprofit that empowers young people with disabilities by providing access to conversations about sexual and reproductive health, and supporting them to advocate for, influence, and demand their rights.
The Twezuule Foundation, whose name comes from a Luganda phrase meaning “let us discover ourselves,” began in 2024. After graduating from university, Nelson, who has a limb difference, was offered a job. However, when the company realised he was disabled, it rescinded the offer due to the discriminatory belief that he could not adequately perform the role. Reflecting on other students he had known at university, including Deaf students and wheelchair users who had similar experiences, he founded the nonprofit to educate people with disabilities about their rights, provide information on sexual and reproductive healthcare, and offer mental health and wellbeing support.
To date, the nonprofit has provided 852 students with disabilities with information on preventing early pregnancy. This is estimated to have prevented 246 early pregnancies. An additional 1,571 people, including students with disabilities, family members, refugees, and community leaders received menstrual health and hygiene education through the Twezuule Foundation’s programmes. Looking ahead, Nelson hopes to continue supporting the Ugandan Government and international organisations to ensure that human rights treaties such as the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) are not only ratified, but also effectively implemented and informed by lived experience.
After attending the 2024 Summit in Montréal, Nelson made connections that helped him create new resources educating people with disabilities on mental health. He hopes to expand this collaboration into a revenue-generating programme improving the livelihoods of those his organisation serves.
“At the Summit, I met a friend called Kara Wenger. We drafted a workbook together that we use to do advocacy on mental health for persons with disabilities. We’re also planning a programme to provide income for the communities that we are funding.”
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