{"id":6660,"date":"2022-11-08T12:45:19","date_gmt":"2022-11-08T10:45:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/disabilityconnect.co.za\/?p=6660"},"modified":"2022-11-08T12:45:19","modified_gmt":"2022-11-08T10:45:19","slug":"more-should-be-done-for-people-living-with-disabilities-says-nkoana-mashabane","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.disabilityconnectexpo.com\/index.php\/2022\/11\/08\/more-should-be-done-for-people-living-with-disabilities-says-nkoana-mashabane\/","title":{"rendered":"More should be done for people living with disabilities, says Nkoana-Mashabane"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Much more should be done for people living with disabilities, the Minister in the Presidency for Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities Maite Nkoana-Mashabane said as she launched the Disability Rights Awareness Month and its calendar events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Marizka Coetzer &#8211; The Citizen\/Image: Nigel Sibanda<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe progress on priorities over the past year displays a great deal of leadership in advancing the rights of persons with disabilities. However, much more can be done by us all,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This year\u2019s theme is: \u201cEmpowering Persons with disabilities through resourceful, sustainable and safe environments.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The department focused on various points, including the acceleration of the pace of providing access to quality inclusive education for children with disabilities out of school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis entails improving and strengthening reasonable accommodation support measures for pupils in both special and ordinary schools,\u201d Nkoana-Mashabane said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe must advocate mainstream persons with disabilities in ordinary schools ensuring all learning materials are accessible, regardless of the pupil\u2019s location.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She said she wanted to accelerate the pace of meaningful and sustainable economic liberation of persons with disabilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis includes reversing the trend of learnerships replacing decent work opportunities, promoting SMME development and public sector procurement.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Nkoana-Mashabane <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PresidencyZA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">said they were pushing<\/a> for the South African sign language to be recognised as an official language.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She said the department was in the process of developing overarching legislation on disability rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cSouth Africa will soon ratify the protocol on the African Human and People\u2019s Rights Charter for Persons with Disabilities in Africa. We are investigating the possibility of legislating these frameworks into the Disability Rights Act,\u201d said Nkoana-Mashabane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She called on all government departments to be involved in the process of developing the National Disability Rights Agenda as required by the Mid-Term Strategic Framework targets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe need more government departments to participate in the activities and events during Disability Rights Awareness Month as part of their commitment to the integration of persons with disabilities,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">his week, Gauteng health MEC Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko met Gauteng Emergency Medical Services employee Abraham Dludlu, 43.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He was given a mechanical wheelchair and workstation following an accident that left him paralysed 15 years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Deon Torris from Eersterust was wheelchair-bound for most of his life and said transport and access to basic places were challenging with his wheelchair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He said public transport was not wheelchair-friendly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cA lot of places, especially in the townships, are inaccessible for us if you think about the spaza shops and the sidewalks,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Torris said most government buildings, shops and banks were not disability-friendly. \u201cThe ATMs are too high and hard to work in the chair.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He said township problems made having a disability harder. \u201cTo get access to walking devices and wheelchairs is hard for the less fortunate. Not everyone has that kind of money.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Torris said servicing the wheelchair every year was an additional cost as the tyres and the bearings had to be changed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe government has to cover the service of wheelchairs, but they don\u2019t. When you get to the shop, they say you have to have medical aid before they will service it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Much more should be done for people living with disabilities, the Minister in the Presidency for Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities Maite Nkoana-Mashabane said as she launched the Disability Rights Awareness Month and its calendar events. Marizka Coetzer &#8211; The Citizen\/Image: Nigel Sibanda \u201cThe progress on priorities over the past year displays a great [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6661,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[36,37],"tags":[39,41,422],"class_list":["post-6660","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-disability-spotlight","category-focus","tag-disability","tag-disability-connect","tag-national-disability-rights-awareness-month"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.disabilityconnectexpo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6660","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.disabilityconnectexpo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.disabilityconnectexpo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.disabilityconnectexpo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.disabilityconnectexpo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6660"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dev.disabilityconnectexpo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6660\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.disabilityconnectexpo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6661"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.disabilityconnectexpo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.disabilityconnectexpo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.disabilityconnectexpo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}