People Unlimited Mini Film Festival: South African Women with disabilities Speak Out!
The Office on the Status of Disabled Persons in the Presidency (OSDP) is proud to announce the inclusion of three documentaries on the lives of women with disabilities that were screened at film festivals throughout the country during the month of August. Love is not Blind, Wild on Wheels and Fighting to be Heard were screened at festivals in Durban, JHB, Port Elizabeth, Grahamstown and Cape Town. The film screenings are part of the OSDP's national awareness campaign to highlight disability issues in the general public. This forms part of the broader Integrated National Disability Strategy policy on public education and awareness raising.
People Unlimited is a documentary series about the ability, courage and power of ordinary people who challenge society to see the world differently. In each episode we meet an ordinary South African, who defies prejudices and discrimination to realise their full potential in a world where diversity is not understood. Makhotso ( Wild on Wheels) is a party animal from Kimberley who loves kwaito music and dancing. She dreams of becoming a celebrity. Lydia (Love is not Blind) is determined to graduate from university, and get a job worthy of her abilities. Wilma is a Member of Parliament (Fighting to be Heard)
What is so significant about each of these people is that they each have a disability and are pursuing their dreams in a world where people with disabilities are pitied, misunderstood, patronized, excluded and shunned. For example, Makhotso's legs were amputated when she was a child. She wants to host her own television show despite the media stereotypes of people with disabilities. Lydia is blind, in love and determined to succeed in her profession. Wilma is deaf and champions the rights of deaf people in and outside Parliament.
People Unlimited is not a series about disability for people with disabilities, but about changing perceptions and prejudices about people with disabilities. Kagiso Educational Television was commissioned by the Office of the Status of Disabled Persons in the Presidency, which is funded by SIDA, to produce a series, which challenges the way South Africans see people with disabilities. The series was broadcast by e.tv last year.
Sebenzile Matsebula, Director of the OSDP says, "One of the greatest barriers to inclusion of people with disabilities in society is negative attitudes in the general public. People tend to make assumptions about the lives of people with disabilities and take pity on us without actually contributing to dismantling the barriers to full participation."
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