This is according to the South African Human Rights Commission. The commission’s Acting Advocacy and Research Officer in the Free State, Neo Tsikwane, told OFM News highlighting challenges faced by people living with disabilities is of the utmost importance in efforts to ensure an inclusive future for all. This, as the world today observes the International Day of Disabled Persons.

She adds that coupled with these challenges, people who are deaf are not provided services in sign language and are therefore not properly served. Tsikwane says this day is primarily to empower persons with disabilities and educate nations about disabilities and human rights of those living with a disability.
She explains that the SAHRC is working on various measures to ensure that the rights of persons living with disabilities are protected and prioritised in the province and the country at large.

World Disability Day has been commemorated since 1992 by the United Nations’s General Assembly in the promotion of the rights and well-being of persons with disabilities in all spheres of society.
On this day awareness is spread on how organisations and individuals can get involved in removing the stigma and structural barrier for persons with disability.
Approximately one billion people around the world live with a disability.
Tsikwane says they investigate complaints of discrimination when they receive them and sends a stern warning that the exclusion of persons living with disabilities is not allowed.

Source: OFS