A call to support people with disabilities

People with disabilities have not been spared, but have been severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The pandemic has also deepened pre-existing inequalities, exposing their vulnerabilities, the Deputy Minister in the Presidency, Professor Hlengiwe Mkhize, said.

Speaking during the launch of Disability Rights Awareness Month on Tuesday, she said government has been working tirelessly in ensuring inclusion in all emergency interventions.

“We also participated in developing directions for specific sectors,” she said.

“We robustly engaged national departments to advocate for the rights of persons with disabilities, in addition to making sign language interpreters for the media briefing of the National Coronavirus Command Council.”

The department has also been working with development partners and sponsors to bring relief to people with disabilities during the lockdown.

“The lockdown has cut off supplies to care centres, support facilities, old age homes and similar organisations relying on the kindness of strangers for donations to support persons with disabilities.”

Many of these organisations, which rely on donations, have been forced to let go of support staff or close their doors due to risk of infection.

“To mitigate against this, the department has secured and donated food hampers and sanitary packs to care centres and DPOs across the country.”

Also, the department has been visiting various centres to distribute care packages, including food items, treats for children, hand sanitisers, soaps and facemasks.

Meanwhile, the Deputy Minister said the disabled are often at a greater risk of discrimination in accessing healthcare and lifesaving procedures during the outbreak.

“In some countries, healthcare rationing decisions, including triage protocols, for example, intensive care beds, ventilators are not being based on an individual prognosis, but rather on age or assumptions about quality or value of life-based on disability.”

GBV

Mkhize also spoke against gender-based violence (GBV) that people with disabilities suffer.

“Women with disabilities are often seen by their societies as weak, worthless and, in some cases, sub-human,” she said, adding that such perceptions heighten their risk of GBV.

According to Mkhize, they are twice more likely to be victims of sexual abuse, rape and intimate partner violence than their non-disabled.

Equal rights for all

The Deputy Minister has since called on everyone to advocate for the rights of those who live with disabilities.

She has since called on government, public and private stakeholders, and communities to support people who live with disabilities.

“Failure to create a society for all will ultimately be undermining our own legislation and policies which have been developed since the dawn of democracy in 1994 under the motto, ‘nothing about us without us’,” the Deputy Minister said.

Since the launch of the awareness month last year, Mkhize said the department has engaged with the sector and taken responsibility when the transformation was stagnant.

The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) has noted that 5.1% of the population aged five years and older in South Africa are living with disabilities.

According to the Deputy Minister, the disabled continue to experience lack of access to adequate health and basic education and often have little prospect of securing employment.

“The sector is also particularly vulnerable to the compounded effects of discrimination and abuse.”

However, society’s role goes beyond advocating for change but requires a change of regulation and ensuring that people with disabilities are at the centre of government’s programme of economic recovery and reconstruction as contributors and beneficiaries.

“On a practical level, it means that, amongst other tasks, persons with disabilities must be involved in conceptualising, developing, implementing and monitoring economic development policies and programmes,” she added.

“President [Cyril] Ramaphosa made it clear when he established this Ministry in 2019, that he expects the ministry to also influence government’s delivery machinery to ensure that we change the lives of women, youth and persons with disabilities in a meaningful way.”

The Deputy Minister said government, in line with the White Paper on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, has been assisting under-represented groups such as people with albinism, young people with dyslexia, deaf and blind people, those with psychosocial disabilities and lately people of short stature, to strengthen their collective voice.