“The day is normally celebrated on September 5 every year, but due to xenophobic attacks that erupted in the township around that time, we had to postpone the event,” said Thami Mankenkeza, the founder of Wheels of Change, an organisation that works with people living with different types of disabilities.
People living with disabilities from Ward 44 and the surrounding areas came in their numbers to celebrate the day and to also partake in different activities that took place on the day.
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Other members of the community also came to support and witness life on a wheelchair.
The event started with a walk-in wheelchair, where able-bodied people experienced how it felt to be wheelchair-bound.
“We want people to know how it is like to live with a disability in this unfriendly environment. People with disabilities are mistreated and looked down upon by others in their homes and at their workplaces,” said Mankenkeza.
Living with a disability himself, Mankenkeza said the reason Wheels of Change was established was to upskill people living with disabilities so they could be employable and reduce dependency on grants. “We don’t want people to pity us because we are living with a disability, but we want them to see life in us.”
Wheels of Change also offers the following services:
• Job placement.
• Driving lessons for people living with a disability.
• Artisan skills.
• Assistance in drafting business plans for those who want to start their own businesses.
Sibongile Mthethwa of Vezabantu for People with Disability said the community must stop hiding people living with a disability.
“We want people to know us and what we are capable of doing despite our disabilities,” said Mthethwa, who also lives with a physical disability.
She also pleaded with people living with disabilities to be united in fighting against the stigma against them.
“People living with a disability are oppressed. Everywhere they go, they are not given equal opportunities as other people. But we are going to make such awareness until somebody hears us,” Mthethwa said.
She also advised people living with disabilities to not feel sorry for themselves.
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Thembeka Soko, one of the guests who attended the event, said she is now aware of how difficult life is for people living with a disability.
“It was difficult to move around the township in a wheelchair, not to mention helping myself if my wheelchair stuck. I wonder how people living with disabilities cope with such difficulty every day,” said Soko, who came to support her friend who also lives with a disability.
She praised her friend for being strong and not allowing her physical disability to bring her down and for having a good sense of humour despite mistreatment from the community.
The games started later on the day and people with disabilities played against able-bodied people.
They played basketball, archery, pull-a-rope, throw-a-hoop, as well as a javelin.
People living with disabilities won the basketball game by 10 – 6, while in archery, able-bodied people won 11–9.
In throw-a-hoop, people living with disabilities won 4 –1 and won pull-a-rope as well as javelin respectively.
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