#DisabilityInclusiveSA: Amputee lives life without limits

DASSENHOEK resident, Lawrence Zwane is a vibrant receptionist at the Medicross Pinetown medical and dental centre and has risen above his disability and is determined to make a lasting impression on patients.

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Zwane, now 29, was diagnosed with diabetes when he was 13 years old. In March 2018 he had to have his foot amputated after he developed a sore on his foot that didn’t heal due to his existing diabetes condition.

People living with diabetes have an increased risk of lower limb amputation, and the wounds or ulcers that do not heal are the most common cause behind the need to amputate.

After leaving school, he studied basic home-based care and a correspondence computer course, but his life took a detour because of his new condition.

This Disability Rights Awareness Month (DRAM), which is observed from November 3 to December 3 each year, Netcare celebrates Zwane and shares its progress in driving inclusiveness through mainstreaming and developing persons with disabilities.

Zwane is one of the 777 persons with disabilities working in the Netcare Group. This forms 4.24% of the workforce.

“For far too long, persons with disabilities have been side-lined in the labour market and mainstream society. We need to recognise how, together, these forces keep creating marginalisation and inequality and exclude people unfairly,” said Dr Nceba Ndzwayiba, Netcare’s Group director of human resources and transformation.

After his recovery, he was unemployed and that is when he heard about the Netcare’s Sinako learnership programme.

“I started my training in 2019 and completed my business administration level four, which led to my appointment at Netcare Medicross Pinetown,” he added.

Netcare’s Sinako learnership programme was launched by Netcare in 2012 to assist unemployed South Africans with disabilities to enter the mainstream economy.

“Netcare Medicross Pinetown arranged a chair for me so that I can move around easily, and my desk has been specially adapted. My colleagues are also very supportive,” he said.

Zwane said it is rewarding to work with patients and their families, especially as a healthcare worker on the frontline, because he knows, as a patient himself, sometimes that the care given at the front desk can make a tremendous difference.

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