From November 3 to December 3, which is also International Day for People with Disabilities, South Africa commemorates people with disabilities with Disability Right’s Awareness Month (DRAM). This year, the theme is “Create and realise an inclusive society uploading rights of people with disabilities”.
In addition, the Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities has further broken the month down into sub themes, which are as follows:
- Week 1 (November 8 – 12): Accelerating human dignity and learning environments for persons with disabilities at all levels.
- Week 2 (November 15 – 19): Inclusive socio-economic empowerment of persons with disabilities.
- Week 3 (November 22 – 26): Improved COVID-19 services inclusive of persons with disabilities at all spheres of life.
- Week 4 (November 29 – December 3): Realising and celebrating the importance of disability rights, women empowerment and gender equality and elimination of gender-based violence.
Started in 2013, DRAM gives the disability community the opportunity to voice its needs and concerns. It might feel like there has been little to no progress in terms of disability rights with issues raised only to be ignored. However, a look back on the history of disability in South Africa can shine a light on how far the community.
It was only in the late 70s that disability organisations started to pop up. People with disabilities of all races, cultures and ages were organising in an attempt to empower themselves and oppose the oppression that they faced.
Colleen Howell and her team details the oppression in their research paper, A History of the Disability Rights Movement in South Africa:
“Under apartheid, the experiences of people with disabilities were also the experiences of a deeply divided people living in a profoundly unequal society. The lived experiences of black and white people with disabilities under apartheid were very different and reflected the general inequalities between white and black people in South Africa.
“For the majority of black people with disabilities, their lives were about struggling on a daily basis to cope with the poverty, deprivation and violence of the apartheid system, a struggle compounded by their disability. However, it is important to recognise that under apartheid all people with disabilities, black and white, were discriminated against and marginalised because of their disability and had very limited access to fundamentals-economic rights such as employment, education and appropriate health and welfare services.”
“Despite their relatively privileged position in relation to black people with disabilities at the time, [the experience of] white people with disabilities was one of being dependent on a health and welfare system run by people without disabilities. It was a system where professionals spoke on their behalf and generally created conditions in which people with disabilities were ‘cared for’, often in institutions separate from society, rather than living independently, integrated into mainstream society.”
With the fall of apartheid, more disability organisations emerged to empower the disability community. Since then, the concerns of people with disabilities have been raised, addressed and brought to the awareness of the public through these organisations.
All true change has humble beginnings. So, why not use DRAM to voice your concerns and raise awareness of disability issues. If you post to social media, tag us! Use the hashtag(s): #DisabilityInclusiveSA #RollingMag
Read more about disability activism, rights and history in South Africa here: A History of the Disability Rights Movement in South Africa.
