HUMAN RIGHTS
Shunned and shut out for being disabled
Equality is not much more than a buzzword, invoked at the altar of lip service, writes Makgosi Letimile
Reading the Constitution gives one the impression SA is the greatest country in world. Until it has to be put into practice. As a black woman with a disability, I have learnt the hard way that equality is not much more than a buzzword, invoked at the altar of lip service. Remember the Mandela-era Batho Pele campaign from 1997 that promised to put people first and ensure services for people with disabilities? Probably not. And you are not alone — 20 years later, it seems to have been consigned to the scrap heap of forgotten policies. Society does not see disabled people as functional human beings with the same needs, rights and dignity as everyone. Try going to a mall and, finding the disabled toilet is locked, and then having to get yourself to the manager’s office to beg for the key. Imagine being infantilised in daily interactions, from having your requests paraphrased back at your abled companion, to having to ask for assistance in "disabled" bathrooms that are not properly equip...
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