Access to education a challenge for disabled

PARENTS of children with disabilities in the Eastern Cape have highlighted access to education as one of the biggest challenges they face.

As a result, some resort to home schooling their children.

Yesterday roads and public works MEC Thandiswa Marawu commemorated Disability Rights Awareness Month by handing out wheelchairs and crutches to 49 people with disabilities in Barkly East.

Angelina Matiwane, who received a wheelchair on behalf of her nineyeargrandson, said many obstacles still stood in the way of them living full lives and that the biggest challenge was finding a good school that was able to cater to special needs children.

“When he was seven, we sent him to a highly recommended special school in Grahamstown but every time I went to visit my heart would break because the ill-treatment and abuse was visible. I have since been the one teaching him how to read and write,” said Matiwane.

She said mainstream school teachers were not given the training they needed and were ill-prepared to support children and young people with a disability.

Nosakhele Mthembu lives with her three-year-old grandson Reatile Kgotsi who was born with Down’s syndrome. He cannot walk or sit up.

Mthembu said Reatile qualified for a disability grant but they had been waiting for seven months with no payout.

In October the Daily Dispatch reported on disabled pupils from Ikhwezi Lokusa Special School who were protesting against the infringement of their rights, saying they were tired of being ill-treated by teachers and caregivers.

“Disability is a societal problem and this campaign seeks to accelerate equal access to socio-economic opportunities for persons with disabilities by making information available and accessible. We will then facilitate with the relevant departments to ensure these matters are attended to,” said Marawu. —