South African employers have short-changed the country’s intellectually impaired by employing only workers with physical disabilities and not intellectual ones.
An oversight in the Employment Equity Act groups the intellectually impaired with citizens with other disabilities for job opportunities. Employers tend to opt for the physically disabled over the intellectually disabled.
About 0,7% of South Africa’s workforce is made up of disabled people, of which only 1% are intellectually disabled. Arthur Cowley, deputy chief education specialist at the directorate of specialised education support in the Western Cape, said 80% of severely intellectually disabled school-leavers are able to do work in some capacity. Some find work in the open job market (about 5%) and the rest in protected labour.
Vanessa dos Santos, the executive chairperson for Down’s Syndrome South Africa, said: “It is very unfortunate that there is such a stigma around employment of intellectually impaired people. If they are given the opportunity they can do great work, but people just look at them and think it is too much trouble to employ them.”
As only a small number of people with intellectual disabilities are given the opportunity to work, “they struggle to survive on their grant of R870 a month. In many cases families take this money from them. I know of a family of eight who survive on the grant money of a child with Down’s syndrome,” Dos Santos said.
Tineke Boshoff, office manager of the Down’s Syndrome Association Western Cape, said parents of intellectually impaired people prefer their children to stay at home because their grant, or a significant part of it, falls away when they earn money.
Marie Hendricks, of the directorate of rights-based culture within the Western Cape department of the premier, said: “As government we need to do more for the intellectually disabled in the workplace.
“We must identify more low-skilled jobs that mentally disabled people can be trained to do. I think we must set aside a percentage of jobs contracted out by government specifically for people with mental disabilities.”
Training for intellectually impaired adults is offered by institutions such as the Cape Mental Health Society.
The organisation’s initiative — Training Workshops Unlimited — prepares people for entry-level jobs such as commercial cleaning, garden maintenance and laundry assistance.
“We have a roughly 65% success rate. Our programme really works well,” said Santie Terreblanche, training and development manager for Training Workshops Unlimited.
Hayley Rehock (33), who has Down’s syndrome, works at the Red Cross hospital’s toy library. “I talk to parents and comfort them when their babies are born with Down’s syndrome. I also play with the children.”
In addition, she does administrative work at the hospital and organises meetings at the clinic.
“Hayley is a huge inspiration for parents who have just found out that their children were born with Down’s syndrome. Working stimulates her mind and gives her a sense of purpose,” says her mom, Louise Rehock.
“Most companies employ physically disabled people to comply with the quotas of the Employment Equity Act. They are lazy because some coaching is needed.
“If every company could just employ one intellectually disabled person, it would really make a difference. It is good for the country’s economy — and exposing staff to a person with an intellectual disability could help do away with the stigma surrounding people with intellectual disabilities,” says Louise Rehock.
To improve job opportunities for the intellectually impaired, training should start at school level, said James Mallet-Veale, ground manager at Unity College, a school for intellectually challenged children in Johannesburg.
“Practical training such as woodwork, metalwork, cooking and gardening are offered at our school and a lot of other schools for children with learning disabilities. The children are then ready to be employed to do the work when they leave school,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Umsobomvu Youth Fund, a government initiative to create employment and entepreneurial opportunities for the youth, is launching a campaign called Invite a Person with a Disability to Work.
On April 23 and 24 the campaign will select at least 1 200 people with disabilities from three provinces — Gauteng, Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal — and expose them to the work environment. Umsobomvu will provide training for host companies and those selected before the campaign begins.
The initiative is aimed at creating awareness about disability issues in the workplace.
Anyone interested in hosting people with disabilities can go to www.youthportal.org.za for information