06/12/2025
The root of the challenge lies deeper than changing or adding more legislation, codes and/or policies. There is specific legislation and codes to protect the rights of persons who have impairments in South Africa, yet there is little enforcement thereof.
Buildings and meetings, for example, to a major extent completely exclude specifically those with invisible impairments. Less than 1 % of persons with disabilities have gainful employment. People who have impairments are still victimised and abused and are often told to apply for a grant and/or find accommodation in a “special‑needs” facility.
Role players often have little or no idea how to interact with someone who has an invisible impairment, preferring instead to pretend that the impairment does not exist. It is commonly known among persons who have impairments that the single most disabling barrier is people’s attitudes.
Legislation, and its enforcement, must be taken up and lobbied for a successful conclusion. We have wonderful legislation such as the Equality Act of 2000 (PEPUDA), but we do not see it being used. If existing legislation is not utilised, how will a Disability Act in South Africa make any difference in the lives of persons with disabilities at the grassroots level?
Attitudes are far more difficult to change. Nobody is born prejudiced or discriminatory; it is learned behaviour, taught to us from early childhood. A culture of respect for diversity must be developed, as changing legislation or adding another act will not be the only solution. The root of the challenge lies deeper than changing or adding more legislation, codes and/or policies.
Talking about a change in attitudes—nobody is born prejudiced or discriminatory; it is learned behaviour, taught from early childhood and inherited from previous generations. Attitudes are years in the making, and we acknowledge that it may take many years to combat stereotypes and misperceptions about, for example, invisible impairments. As long as attitudes are not changed, there will always be direct or indirect disability imposed on persons who have impairments.
The first step in the process is surely to acknowledge that all people are human beings first, who happen to have an impairment. We may just as well say “people who have dark hair” or “people who wear red shirts”. As human beings, we are all different but entitled to equal rights such as the right to life, dignity, education, mobility, safety and security, independent living, health services, employment, etc.
Only once society recognises that all people, including those with visible or invisible impairments, are equal, will the tide of ignorance turn.
Do you have an opinion on visible or invisible impairments as well as direct or indirect disability?
Write to me at
Fanie du Toit
Fanie Dreams
www.faniedreams.co.za
National Council of and for Persons with Disabilities
Image credit: Meta AI
