Looking for a push to find employment
CINDY Klaas from Goodwood, who uses a wheelchair, doesn’t have much to celebrate on International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPD) because she struggles to make ends meet every day.
Klaas, 34, is living at a friend’s house. At the age of 30 she fell from a train and had to learn how to live in a wheelchair. “I ended up unemployed and losing the place where I was living. For me and my daughter, who was 6, it’s been tough,” she said.
Yesterday, to celebrate IDPD, the City and different organisations participated in an event to create awareness and understanding of disability issues.
The City reports that at least 5% of the population are, people with disabilities, but they make up just 2.5% of the employed workforce. Klaas isn’t part of the 2.5%. She said she had “tried everything”, yet was unable to afford a room on her own for herself and her daughter, who’s living with another family to be able to attend school and have a better quality of life.
“I’m stressing because I want to be with my daughter, but with the money I get I can’t afford it. The disability grant is R1780, not enough to pay for rent and food.”
She will also have to leave her friend’s house by the end of January.
“I exercise a lot; if I have material, I make bracelets and I clean around the house. I wanted to open a YouTube channel showing people who are disabled how I do my daily exercise. It’s a way to inspire people living with disabilities, that this is not the end,”
Klaas said. “I love myself as someone with a disability, there’s no one that can take me down.”
Even when there’s courage, there are difficulties people with disabilities have to face. The Institute for the Promotion of Disabled Manpower’s advice desk team leader, Sherine Frantz, said there were few job opportunities.
“There’s movement in that direction, but the biggest difficulty is transport, how to get to places to do whatever is being offered to them.”
Zahid Badroodien, mayoral committee member for community services and health, said all MyCiti buses were adapted for people with disabilities, but not all communities had access to them.