Disabled South Africans Protest New Benefits Criteria
By Kay Schriner (kays@uark.edu)
People with disabilities in South Africa marked the International Day of Disabled Persons on December 3 by asking the government to suspend its implementation of strict new criteria for accessing social assistance grants. In a memorandum to Deputy President Jacob Zuma, Disabled People of South Africa (DPSA) expressed their serious concerns with the new evaluation process, which DPSA fears could leave disabled people without a safety net. The South African Federal Council on Disability (SAFCD) also complained, saying that the government is more concerned about controlling expenditures than about the well-being of people with disabilities. SAFCD says that people with sensory, neurological, and mental impairments may not be granted benefits because of the inadequacy of the evaluation process, and that its recommendations for improving the system have been ignored.
Deputy President Zuma said in response to the complaints that progress has been made but "challenges still face us." He also noted that the inaccessibility of the environment contribute to the difficulties people with disabilities face in acquiring education and finding jobs.
The evaluation process was challenged in August, and a court in the Eastern Cape province reinstated thousands of disabled people whose social grants had been discontinued by the government.
Social grants are not the only item on the DPSA agenda. DPSA is calling for a comprehensive disability policy that also includes prevention and rehabilitation. They want action on disability issues to be part of a broader scheme of economic development. They also are advocating for an improvement in attitudes toward people with disabilities. This integrated approach is called for because, as DPSA Eastern Cape province chairperson Zingisile Kweat says, people with disabilities are "still not treated as fully and equally human. Disabled people are disproportionately among the poorest of the poor."
Economic woes are widespread among South Africans with disabilities. Among 4.8 million disabled people, the unemployment rate is a jarring 99%. More than 70% of children with disabilities receive no formal education, and girls and women with disabilities are subject to unacceptable levels of violence and abuse.
Some South African companies are taking steps to improve employment opportunities. Telkom, a telecommunications company, has said it will ensure that at least 1% of its employees have disabilities, and that it will increase recruitment efforts to reach this goal. But many other employers are "not taking responsibility," according to Kim Hobden of MNR Consulting, which provides accommodation planning for employers. Hobden cites the example of a casino group that spent R900000 to make its facilities accessible to the public, but whose human resources department is inaccessible.
A glaring need is for national legislation that would require accessibility, says Monica Vaas of the National Council for Persons with Physical Disabilities. Hobden agrees. "While the US has strict legislation against discrimination and is advanced on issues of access, SA is far behind."
Information for this story was taken from stories published in Business Day, South African Press Association, the Mail and Guardian, BUANews, and press releases from the United Democratic Movement and the South African Federal Council on Disability, all available at http://allafrica.com/stories/.
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