Disability and Social Change: A South African Agenda

432 Pages·2007·1.8 MB·English

by  Brian Watermeyer

disability
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disability
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a south african agenda
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edited by brian watermeyer,
leslie swartz, theresa lorenzo,
marguerite schneider and
mark priestley
Compiled within the Child, Youth, Family and Social Development Research Programme
of the Human Sciences Research Council

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a Published by HSRC Press
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ss Private Bag X9182, Cape Town, 8000, South Africa
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r www.hsrcpress.ac.za
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s © 2006 Human Sciences Research Council
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w First published 2006
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m All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in
o any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, including photocopying
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and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission
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a in writing from the publishers.
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w ISBN 0-7969-2137-7
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e Typeset by Simon van Gend
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r Cover design by Farm Design
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Print management by comPress
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Contents
List of tables and figures viii
Foreword ix
Acknowledgements x
Acronyms and abbreviations xi

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. 1 Introduction and overview 1
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. Brian Watermeyer and Leslie Swartz
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c Section I Theoretical approaches to disability 7
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hs 2 Disability and the environment 8
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w Marguerite Schneider
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m 3 Developing disability studies programmes: the international context 19
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r Mark Priestley
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l 4 Disability and psychoanalysis 31
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w Brian Watermeyer
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e Section II Government and societal responses to disability 45
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5 A history of the disability rights movement in South Africa 46
Colleen Howell, Schuaib Chalklen and Thomas Alberts
6 I ntegrating disability within government:
the Office on the Status of Disabled Persons 85
Sebenzile Matsebula, Marguerite Schneider and Brian Watermeyer
7 Establishing the Secretariat for the African Decade
of Persons with Disabilities 93
Shuaib Chalklen, Leslie Swartz and Brian Watermeyer
8 D isability and human rights: the South African
Human Rights Commission 99
Charlotte Mcclain Nhlapo, Brian Watermeyer and Marguerite Schneider
9 HIV/AIDS and disability: new challenges 108
Leslie Swartz, Marguerite Schneider, and Poul Rohleder
10 ‘ How could she possibly manage in court?’ An intervention programme
assisting complainants with intellectual disabilities in sexual assault cases
in the Western Cape. 116
B everley Dickman, Amanda Roux, Susan Manson, Gillian Douglas
and Nokuthula Shabalala
11 L anguage policy and SASL: interpreters in the public service 134
Marion Heap and Helen Morgans
Section III Disability and education 148

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z 12 Disability and schooling in South Africa 149
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a Crain Soudien and Jean Baxen
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pr 13 Disabled students and higher education in South Africa 164
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r Colleen Howell
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w 14 D eveloping a Disability Studies programme: engaging activism and academia
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for social change 179
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o Theresa Lorenzo, Mzolisi ka Toni and Mark Priestley
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oa 15 Developing literacy with Deaf adults 192
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n Meryl Glaser and Theresa Lorenzo
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e Section IV Disability, poverty, and social security 206
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Fr 16 Disability, poverty, gender and race 207
Tony Emmett
17 Tough choices: disability and social security in South Africa 234
Leslie Swartz and Marguerite Schneider
18 Issues in disability assessment 245
Ruth Watson, Marion Fourie and Joan Andrews
Section V Disability and service provision 260
19 P hysically disabled women and discrimination in reproductive health care:
psychoanalytic reflections 261
Nokwanele Mgwili and Brian Watermeyer
20 Community-based rehabilitation: new challenges 273
Sarah Rule, Theresa Lorenzo and Milani Wolmarans
21 Psychiatric disability and social change: an insider perspective 291
Siyabulela K and Madeleine Duncan
22 Parents and therapists: dilemmas in partnership 311
Judy Mckenzie and Bronwen Müller
Section VI Disability and human spaces 324
23 D isability and universal access: observations on housing from the spatial and
social periphery 325
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24 D isability and homelessness: a personal journey from the margins
to the centre and back 350

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z Gubela Mji
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s 25 E ntrepreneurship, employment and skills: Ari Seirlis in conversation 361
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pr Ari Seirlis and Leslie Swartz
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. 26 Media and disability 373
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w Jane Stadler
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o 27 ‘ Ag shame’ and superheroes: stereotype and the signification of disability 387
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f Kathleen McDougall
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n List of contributors 401
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e Index 440044
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DISABILITY AND SOCIAL CHANGE: A SOUTH AFRICAN AGENDA
List of tables and figures
Tables
11.1 SASL interpreters in South Africa, by category, number and by ratio of
interpreters to SASL users 140
12.1 Distribution of disabled persons per category, per province 150
12.2 Distribution of special schools and learners in special schools,
per province 151
16.1 Estimates of national disability prevalence rates 1995–1999 209

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a 16.3 Distribution of disability among the major population groups 225
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ss 17.1 Number of beneficiaries of disability grants, by province 237
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pr 17.2 Annual growth in disability grant beneficiary numbers, by percentage 238
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r 18.1 Categories of productivity 257
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. 22.1 The public/private divide in South African health, mid-1999 312
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23.2 Types of first impairment compared to national average
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o (2001 Census) 330
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w Figures
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16.3 Percentages of population with and without disabilities,
by level of education 226
20.1 CBR partnership programme: an implementation model 285
23.1 Settlements around Tshwane 328
23.2 Inaccessible toilets in RDP houses 332
23.3 RDP and ESCAP toilet plans 333
23.4 Lack of privacy: a toilet in a small house 333
23.5 Drawing by Elias Mahoro showing informal squat toilets –
the only option 334
23.6 Poor roads are a barrier 337
23.7 Drawing by Amos Baloyi showing how muddy uneven paths
prevent independent movement 338
23.8 Saulsville Railway Station: no access 339
viii
FOREWORD
Foreword
In the world today, disabled people are lobbying the United Nations to advance the
rights of disabled people by adopting the Disability Convention. In Africa, disabled
people and their governments are implementing the African Decade of Disabled
People (2000–2009) to ensure improvement in, and equalisation of, opportunities
for disabled people. In South Africa, in 2006 we celebrate the tenth anniversary
of the adoption of our Constitution, a document we can all be proud of and that
promotes the rights of all South Africans. Unlike many other such documents, our
a Constitution specifically mentions the right of disabled people to equality.
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a As we advance our struggle on all these fronts, it is therefore fitting that this book,
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s Disability and social change: A South African agenda, should appear, representing
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p one more step towards the realisation of rights for all South Africans.
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h In 1997, the then Deputy President of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki signed the White
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Paper on the Integrated National Disability Strategy – the INDS. The INDS placed
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w the issue of disability firmly in the centre of concerns around what it takes to make

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a society that is accessible and provides equal opportunities for all. The INDS called
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fr for research to promote the rights and participation of disabled people in our

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a society. This major book, supported by the Disability Movement in South Africa,
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l and with its many authors and wide range of topics, answers that call. It also asks
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all South Africans to continue thinking about and researching the rights of disabled
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people, to continue to build a more inclusive society, and to take on board the
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re slogan of Disabled People South Africa, ‘Nothing about us, without us!’. The book
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makes it clear how far we have come since the INDS – it is very unlikely that such a
document would have been published even ten years ago. It also makes it clear that
we still have a long way to go, in relation to the challenges of unemployment, and in
making transport and social services truly accessible.
The editors and authors of this book come from a variety of sectors in South Africa,
and are diverse with respect to disability, gender, race, and class. Collectively they
issue us with a powerful challenge – to intensify our efforts to make the provisions
of our Constitution real for all South Africans. Read this book – it may well spur
you on to make your own best efforts to address the disability agenda. The best
compliment you could pay to the authors of this remarkable volume would be to
make your own contribution to enhancing the rights and opportunities of disabled
people in South Africa. I call on all members of the Disability Movement to engage
in this disability and social agenda.
Lewis Nzimande, MP and National Chairperson, Disabled People South Africa
1999 to 2006
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DISABILITY AND SOCIAL CHANGE: A SOUTH AFRICAN AGENDA
Acknowledgements
The contributors to this volume are drawn from a broad cross-section of the
diverse and complex nation that is South Africa. As editors, we have attempted to
bring together a range of voices within our country’s disability movement, and we
owe a great debt of gratitude to all the authors, for enriching our work with their
experiences, insights and images. This has been a long process and a difficult one;
we thank all the authors for both their generosity and their patience.
The Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) has, over the past four years, shown

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z substantial commitment to researching disability. The publication of this book, thus,
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a is but one of a range of disability research initiatives in which the HSRC is engaged,
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s and for which the organisation deserves our recognition and thanks. From all at the
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p HSRC Press we have had particular support. In the broader HSRC, Professor Linda
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sr Richter made possible the establishment of a research focus that has lead to this
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w. book and to a number of other outputs in the field of disability research.
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w Stellenbosch University generously allowed Leslie Swartz a secondment to the HSRC

m very soon after he had arrived at the university, and this provided him with the
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r opportunity formally to establish disability work at the HSRC.
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a The Disability Studies Programme at the University of Cape Town, in which a number
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n of the editors and contributors have been involved, has two important relationships,
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o both of which are reflected in this publication. The British Council facilitated and
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e funded a link between the Disability Studies Programme and the Centre for Disability
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Fr Studies at Leeds University. This link has done much to develop disability work in
South Africa. The linkage has been supported by the participation of Disabled People
South Africa (DPSA) and particularly by the consistent and helpful support of Mzolisi
ka Toni, who is not only a contributor to this book, but also a key person in ensuring
that it has come into being.
Through the arduous process of writing and editing, Brian Watermeyer and the editorial
team were ably assisted by Ann Turner. Hayley MacGregor was a great help and support
early on in the process. Thomas Alberts deserves very special mention – without his
considerable editing skills, and his rare mix of commitment, enthusiasm, hard work,
and great humour under pressure, this book would have been of far less value.
Many of the chapters in this book refer to the daily lives and the ongoing struggles
for equality, dignity, and access for many disabled South Africans. This book is
neither comprehensive nor the last word. We hope, though, that what we have
done provides some recognition, from the research and academic sectors, of the
importance of your lives – not only in terms of disability but also for all who are
serious about democracy in South Africa.
The editors
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