DISABILITY CHALLENGES IN GENERAL Robert Masambo National Chairperson Nothing About Us Without Us 06 March 2013

Nothing About Us Without Us INTRODUCTION 2 According to National Development Plan, Disability and poverty operate in a vicious circle. Disability often leads to poverty and poverty, in turn, often results in disability. People with disabilities face multiple discriminatory barriers. NDP, page 52

Nothing About Us Without Us INTRODUCTION 3 In South Africa, the majority of persons with disabilities have been excluded from the mainstream of society and prevented from accessing fundamental social, political and economical rights.

Nothing About Us Without Us INTRODUCTION 4 The low level of understanding of disability as a human rights and development issue by policy makers and service providers lead to the exclusion of persons with disabilities from inclusive development, disability mainstreaming and policy language despite the political will to redress the imbalance of the past.

Nothing About Us Without Us CHALLENGES FACED BY PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES 5  Positive policy environment frameworks tend to gloss over issues faced by people with disabilities for reasons that we do not have regular and concrete benchmarks to respond to questions such as: to what degree are PwDs subject to inequality and poverty? Disability-related human rights violations are not acted upon and there’s no publicised framework for reporting these violations. Decline in prioritization of disability as human rights issue, poverty as a transversal issue and girl children and women with disabilities.

Nothing About Us Without Us CHALLENGES FACED BY PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES 6  Dichotomy in Intergovernmental Relations Framework on disability across spheres (national, provincial and local government systems).  Effective monitoring and evaluation of disability issues that meets the obligations under the MDGs, UNCRPD and National Development Plan.  Privacy of Deaf and blind people compromised due to unregulated access to private information by SASL Interpreters and Personal Assistants.

Nothing About Us Without Us CHALLENGES FACED BY PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES 7  The ratification of the UNCRPD has yet to translate into meaningful change in the lives of persons with disabilities  Absence of sufficient, accurate, reliable and relevant information on the nature and prevalence of disability in South Africa hampers effective programmes and policy decisions.  Government’s repeated assurances of its commitment to the progressively realise the rights of persons with disabilities overshadow expeditious and effective policy implementation.

Nothing About Us Without Us THE 2% EMPLOYMENT TARGET 8 In February 2012, we presented to the House eight (8) reasons: 1.Why Depts and private sector are not meeting the 2% targets. 2.Provided Five Steps Approaches to assist Depts or Companies to address disability issues to support and increase intake of PwDs. The eight (8) reasons provided were:

Nothing About Us Without Us EIGHT REASONS FOR NOT MEETING 2% TARGET 9 Lack of knowledge about disability by DGs – still viewing disability within the medical and welfare framework, where PwDs are still regarded as sick and things needed to be done for them. KPI on disability delivery should be assigned to DGs to enforce legislation. Government and private are chasing numbers and not suitably qualified candidates. Not working together with the disability sector – ‘nothing about us without us’.

Nothing About Us Without Us EIGHT REASONS FOR NOT MEETING 2% TARGET 10 EEA of 1998 advocating for our employment but does not acknowledge how are we going to reach the area og employment. Lack of policy on accessible public transport in SA. Department working in silo’s – the DCWDP establish will be a dumping ground for disability. Government and private sector need to conduct five steps to ensure that people with disabilities are comprehensively included in the mainstream

Nothing About Us Without Us FIVE STEPS APPROACH 11 In the five [5] approaches to disability to assist departments and companies to address disability issues and to support and increase the intake of people with disabilities in the workplace, we said we need: 1.Disability sensitisation Through workshops to assist staff to have a better understanding of disability issues and be able to view disability as a human rights and developmental issue. 2.Workplace Profile That gives an understanding of how a organization, division and the units are constituted, i.e. outlining total number of employees including employees with disabilities, types of disabilities.

Nothing About Us Without Us FIVE STEPS APPROACH Policy and Strategy Development of Human Resource Strategy and a disability policy that is in line with organization’s internal policy and equity legislations. 4.Disability Access Audits Review of job requirements and possibilities for reasonable accommodations, such as office furniture and space for moving around in offices or other workplaces. 5. Recruiment The principle of non-discrimination should be respected throughout the recruitment process, to ensure maximum benefit to the employer and equitable opportunity for candidates with and without disabilities

Nothing About Us Without Us WE STILL EMPHASIZE THE NEED FOR: 13 A disability inclusive development and mainstreaming should be part of performance contracts of SMS members and departmental leadership. Harmonising the language and various disability definitions to acknowledge UNCRPD as a model for inclusive development, disability mainstreaming and policy language. Popularising the concept of reasonable accommodation as a recruitment strategy in the workplace as a necessary and enabling instrument.

Nothing About Us Without Us WE STILL EMPHASIZE THE NEED FOR: 14 Removing tokenism and provide for a sound basis for accelerated appointment of persons with disabilities at senior management level. A national disability legislation to give greater protection to persons with disabilities and the establishment of a statutory body to monitor and enforce compliance with legislation (in universal design principles, accessibility, etc) Support for funding of DPOs to contribute to a better and participatory government

Nothing About Us Without Us WE STILL EMPHASIZE THE NEED FOR: 15 Undertaking awareness campaigns and participate in commemorative days in conjunction with DPOs, e.g. Public Service Day, IDPD with equal vigour and expenditure as in Youth Day, Women’s Day, World Aids Day, etc

Nothing About Us Without Us TO ACHIEVE 2% TARGET, WE STILL EMPHASIZE THE NEED TO: 16 Promote equal opportunities Policy Statement for all employees Provide staff training and disability awareness to all HR personnel and SMS Promote a disability friendly and accessible working environment Use different recruitment strategies to attract and retain PwDs Actively promote career development among employees with disabilities Provide for a retention, retraining and redeployment Provide for ongoing training and work experience

Nothing About Us Without Us TO ACHIEVE 2% TARGET, WE STILL EMPHASIZE THE NEED TO: 17 Support disabled people in the wider community through departmental programmes Monitoring performance of disabled employees Involve disabled people in the wider community through DPOs Regulate and professionalise Sign Language Interpreters for Deaf people and Personal Assistants for Blind people to ensure respect of privacy.

Nothing About Us Without Us TRANSPORT CHALLENGES 18 Provision of accessible transport to employees with disabilities is still a challenge Public education to sensitize public transport officers in dealing with the various types of disabilities needed. Not much has been done on accessibility of public transport. Most interventions are based in urban areas A Disability Inclusive Transport Strategy that encompass the principle of Safe, Accessible, Reliable and Affordable Framework is needed to ensure that universal access to transportation is implemented in South Africa.

Nothing About Us Without Us BRAILLE ACCESSIBILTY TCHALLENGES 19 Access to information in accessible braille formats is difficult as no Braille facilities of public nature are available. Brialle is generally not accessible for Blind employees Obtaining learning materials in braille remains a challenge Blind people do not have access information from public institutions that do not have Braille facilities.

Nothing About Us Without Us BRAILLE ACCESSIBILTY POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS 20 Provide for subsidisation of assistive technologies Active promotion of universal design across all levels Ensure public media is more accessible Compel internet content providers to align with SABS website accessibility. Sensitisation of ICASA and ICASA monitoring. Copyright exceptions and limitations.

Nothing About Us Without Us THANK YOU 21 I believe there should be total integration and all the disabled people should occupy their rightful place in society. - Friday Mavuso, founder member Disabled People South Africa