Disabled people can add value within the motoring industry
It could be argued that we are all, on some level, able, disabled, or hampered by limited ability. The fact is though, that there is a place for everyone.
If there is one industry in which people with limited ability can find employment, it is the motoring industry.
“There may be a perception that the motor industry requires mostly able-bodied people because of the manual labour required, however, there are exceptional people living with disabilities steering themselves up the career ladder and inspiring others to do the same,” says Louis van Huyssteen, training director at the Retail Motoring Industry Organisation (RMI). Many of these can be found in RMI member workshops throughout the country.
These opportunities should be celebrated and utilised to reduce unemployment by offering more skilled but disabled job seekers an opportunity to build a career within this sector.
Van Huyssteen referenced one such skilled, but disabled, person – Kyle Louw, a paraplegic in Bloemfontein. “He lost the use of his legs after an accident at age 13, had always been interested in fixing cars and was at his dad Clive’s workshop every day after school to learn and to help. Clive started his business, Bloemfontein Diesel Tech, in 1995 to service and repair mechanical diesel fuel injection pumps.
“This later expanded to include common rail pump systems as well as full-service bays. Clive is the Free State and Northern Cape representative of the Automotive Remanufacturers’ Association (ARA), a proud associate of the RMI. He passed on his love of the motor industry to Kyle, who, after finishing high school, enrolled in an apprenticeship, passed his trade test and became fully qualified six years ago.”
Louw said, “It’s important to apply yourself and put your heart and soul into your work. There are many ways to accommodate your disability so don’t be afraid to apply for your dream job.”
Frik Botha, an ex school principal, now the owner of Industry Training and Consulting (ITC) in Pretoria, concurs. He trains disabled people in the automotive body repair industry. “There is a saying among disabled people, ‘you have to be better to be equal, and we have found our trainees to be exceptional”.
Botha says his eldest brother Ferdie employed deaf people for several years. “He applied the principle of ‘learning by doing and has developed his own ‘occupationally specific sign language”.
In 1997, the brothers sent three B/A journeymen for trade tests in Olifantsfontein. They passed their trade tests. This motivated Botha’s involvement the National Institute for the Deaf in Worcester and the Transoranje School for the Deaf in Tswane.
They have since helped nine deaf people to qualify as panel beaters and have, with funding from the merSETA, trained another 63 deaf people in accredited skills programmes to be employed in panel shops as general workers.
“We are experiencing a chronic skills shortage in our sector ranging from motor body repair and spray painting, petrol mechanics, diesel mechanics, automotive engineering and machining to engine fitting, welding, vehicle bodybuilding, and auto electrical, and these are all jobs a person with a disability can do with a lot of hard work,” says Van Huyssteen.
“As an organisation, RMI welcomes the participation of people living with disabilities into the workforce. We strongly believe in giving opportunities to all,” he concludes.
Source: Cathy Findley PR
