Sandy Heyman from Rossettenville, who suffers from cerebral palsy, and Lucas Swanepoel, a paraplegic, established People of Awareness on Disability Issue (PADI) in 1987.
And like many NPOs, they are also finding it hard to survive during lockdown.
Heyman said the organisation came about after a survey was conducted by a social work student, seconded to Radio 702 to research the needs of persons with disabilities in communities.
According to Heyman, the survey explained what was needed in South Africa when it comes to educating able-bodied people about disability. “Since its inception, PADI has conducted experiential learning seminars on disability in various sectors of the community for a great number of participants,” she said.
“We do seminars and talks at corporates and schools and we have even trained the scriptwriter of Soul Buddyz.
“At seminars, we talk about our disabilities and we role play to give people insight into the life of a person with a disability. “We tackle different scenarios, such as blindness, deafness, speech impediment and paraplegics,” said Sandy.
They have been struggling to keep the organisation up to its standard due to Covid-19, with hardly any funding coming through because of lockdown and with schools and companies closed.
“Since the schools closed, we could not host workshops and we are now at a stage where we are appealing for financial help. “Apart from financial assistance, we are also looking at facilitators, able-bodied and disabled, to assist us in what we are doing and also somebody in the field of speech impediment – but there is a criterion they have to meet,” she said.
Sandy said they also train people who look after people with a disability and they will learn you how to do various things to make life easier for the person you are taking care of. One of their big dreams is to broaden their horizons and start PADI outlets in all provincies.
“At the moment, we have two – one in KwaZulu-Natal and the other in Bushbuckridge, Mpumalanga.”
If you are interested in joining them as a facilitator or volunteer, or want to know more about PADI, or if you are able to assist financially, give them a call on 011 435 3656 or email them at padi@icon.co.za
