Barry Streek
The grim realities of life for South Africa’s 2,5-million disabled people, particularly among the African community, have been highlighted in a nationwide study which found an astonishing 88% unemployment rate among the disabled people.
Although it established that there are no significant differences in access to services for African disabled people in urban and rural areas, the study concluded that “services for African disabled people are generally very poor, no matter where they are provided”.
Better education and rehabilitation services seemed to have an impact on a person’s ability to find employment but in this regard coloured and African disabled people are more disadvantaged than Indian and white disabled people.
The survey of the country’s disabled people – between 5,7% and 6,1% of the population – was conducted by the Community Agency for Social Enquiry (Case) after it was awarded a tender by the Department of Health.
It was conducted among 10 000 households in all provinces in the rural, urban and metropolitan areas of the country, obtaining information on 42 974 people of whom 2 435 were identified as being disabled.
The Case researchers said a theme that cuts across most of the life stories it obtained is “the intolerance of the society in which we live towards people with disabilities which leaves them with a feeling of marginalisation and a sense that they have been sidelined from the broader society.
“What comes through strongly in the stories is the disabling effect of intolerance and prejudice which impacts profoundly on the lives of the narrators.”
All the participants in nine focus groups “spoke of suffering from discrimination and other people’s ignorance and insensitivity. Parents of disabled children were often rejected by their former friends because of their child’s disability, and received little support.
“Participants spoke of people’s ignorance and lack of knowledge, which leads them to fear and ostracise disabled people, or to behave in an insensitive way. There is clearly a need for awareness-raising campaigns.”
The discrimination against disabled people was also highlighted in the survey on employment among all people who were 15 years or older. This data “indicates that race, sex, number of disabilities and age of onset all play a significant role in whether a person is employed or not. Whites are more likely to be employed, women are less likely to be employed, and people with more than one disability or who have an early onset of their disability are less likely to be employed.
“Of the total number of disabled people 15 years or older, 88% were economically inactive and/or unemployed but looking for work. These data indicate that disabled people face serious barriers to employment.”
Disabled learners at high schools experience a range of difficulties. “No or little provision exists at high schools in South Africa for learners who are disabled and they are not provided with the necessary support,” according to Case.
There is also a lack of accurate identification of disabilities which results in ad hoc placement within mainstream schools with no real consideration of the child’s needs. Case recommends that training to work appropriately with disabled children in mainstream schools should be undertaken with urgency.
The researchers said the findings suggested that the area of disability in education is”a very neglected area” and should be targeted as a redress issue. Rural African people are the worst affected sector of the disabled population.
The study concluded by noting that the findings suggested divisions in society happened along lines of disabled and non- disabled, “followed only then by divisions along sex and race (advantaged and disadvantaged), and so on”.