On Set Images, News November 2006

There are concerns by the disabled community that treatment that is being meted out to them subjects them to being lesser citizens of society. The question is how did we get to that point? A proverb of the Vai people of Liberia advises how to determine the source of displeasure: "Do not look where you fell, but where you slipped."

Writes: Edwin Sipho Rihlamvu

Disability is a multi-faceted institution in our society and indeed a global village player. As a disabled community, we recognize the role that we have to play in the economic threshold of the country and in its social transformation.

This because we have overcome the state of denial and accept that sitting on the margin or in the periphery – moaning groaning, throwing tantrums and sour grapes - is not the answer to social cohesion and integration that we so desperately aspire for. We have learnt to take a good look at ourselves – we have learnt to laugh at ourselves!

One of my friends who has just returned from the US tells me there’s a garage not far from Washington, which advertises its services in a striking way! The owner has hoisted a seriously wrecked Volkswagen beetle on the top of a telephone pole and on the side of the beetle; he has painted the words - We Fix. The shop lives up to its motto. Its mechanics do tough jobs well!

Therefore, if we’re sometimes a little testy with each other [as a disabled community], it’s because we’re impatient with those of us whose sole contribution is to moan about what’s wrong. But we’ve got lots of time for people who are ready to work on the practicalities of getting things fixed.

'Being truly African'

In May 1996 at the adoption by the Constitutional Assembly of The Republic of South Africa Constitution Bill, President Thabo Mbeki made ground – breaking comments when he delivered his now world renowned “I am an African” speech. But perhaps more profoundly, was his unwavering recognition that there are still ills that afflict our society that we have to recognize and vehemently seek to uproot with determined energy, vigor and resolve before they slow the fabric of this our budding democracy.

Among other tantalizing expressions the President said “I have seen what happens when one person has superiority of force over another, when the stronger appropriate to themselves the prerogative even to annul the injunction that God created all men and women in His image”. I strongly believe that over and above race issues, the President was impressing upon us the danger of inflicting pain on others by visiting the state of their physical being and classifying them as lesser mortals.

In this regard, as we come to the end of a gruelling year, which served us with dishes of challenges, celebrations, hardships, joy, pain, sorrow etc, perhaps our collective voice should be found in the unassuming challenges posed by the President when he said:

“I have seen concrete expression of the denial of the dignity of a human being emanating from the conscious, systemic and systematic oppressive and repressive activities of other human beings. All this I know and know to be true because I am an African!”

We are collectively aware of these challenges and I suggest that our resolve be to know that disability has the corner in South Africa and we are increasingly seeking your partnership to turn the tide and emerge a triumphant African people!

The disabled community is aware that great masses that are our mother and father will not permit that the behaviour of the few results in the description of our country and people as not being tolerate of disability. Patient because history is on their side, these masses do not despair because today the weather is bad. Nor do they turn triumphalist when, tomorrow, the sun shines.

But this call also constitutes a tribute to our loss of vanity that we could, despite the temptation to treat ourselves as an exceptional fragment of humanity, draw on the accumulated experience and wisdom of all humankind, to define for ourselves what we want to be.

Together with the best in the world, we too are prone to pettiness, petulance, selfishness and short-sightedness. But it seems to have happened that we looked at ourselves and said the time had come that we make a super-human effort to be other than human, to respond to the call to create for ourselves a glorious future, to remind ourselves of the Latin saying: Gloria est consequenda - Glory must be sought after!

'Beginning the Fixing'

The 1st of December falls within the period of the 16 Days of No Violence Against Women and Children and therefore we must also speak out loud against the prevalent abuse of disabled women and children in particular.

There is a lot of abuse that disabled women and children suffer, even to the extent of children with mental disabilities being chained and locked up in backyard houses. We cannot keep quiet when we know these things are happening in our communities. We need to expose these horrible deeds and in that way we can be proud that we are indeed making a contribution in acting against the abuse of disabled women and children.

There is an important principle of self-representation that should be at the center of all psychology involving people with disabilities. It is this principle that also translates in a very powerful way to the slogan of the South African disability rights movement, which says “Nothing about us without us”. This is about the self worth and dignity for people with disabilities. We have challenges in this country, serious ones. They are part of the South African story. We must never deny it. In a very important way, they are part of what of makes our story great. You see, what makes South Africa the amazing place it is the extraordinary capacity of our people to meet challenges head on and find solutions. Government, business, civil society organizations, state-owned enterprises, faith-based organizations and the media are all participating in the drive to increase awareness of the negative impact of violence and abuse on women, children and on issues around disability.

'Finding Solutions'

South Africans have established a terrific track record of fixing what others have written off as terminally broken and of finding solutions where others have despaired. As a disabled community, together we decided that in the search for a solution to our problems, nobody should be demonized or excluded. We agreed that everybody should become part of the solution, whatever the might have done or represented in the past.

I wish everyone would drop, once and for all, the word miracle from the lexicon of descriptions for this country's achievements. It reeks of low expectations. And it misses the point. South Africans are not miracle people. We’re quite ordinary human beings with an extraordinary diversity of knowledge, wisdom and talent, who makes things work.

'Doing difficult things well'

We are today a tolerant and stable society because everyone came away feeling ownership in the result. And we have a strong economy because our leaders knew how to realize the ambitious social agenda we set for ourselves in the constitution, we would have to create the wealth to pay for it. And what helped us create the wealth? Peace, stability and many rights that are just as secure as they are internationally.

But more needs to be done. Changing laws can be swift, but giving them effect, and changing the mindsets that often render them ineffective, is a much more demanding task. We need to actively advocate for areas around access to amenities, tourism attractions, transport infrastructure and employment opportunities for the disabled – amongst others.

South Africans need to close the gap between the "rhetoric” and the "reality on the ground". Perhaps the modest question that we should all be asking ourselves before we do the fixing is –

'WHERE DID WE SLIP'