Organisation empowers the disabled community
The organisation's goal is to enable people with disability to live their lives to the fullest and function to their highest capabilities.
LIMPOPO – Limpopo Disability Empowerment is an organisation for people who live with various disabilities in the province.
The organisation hosted an awareness campaign in Lebowakgomo Civic Centre on November 18 as part of the Disability Rights Awareness Month which is observed every year from November 3 to December 3.
Stakeholders and interested parties gathered under the theme, ‘Empowering persons with disabilities through a united representative voice’.
The campaign’s goal was to educate the community, as well as persons with disabilities, about the importance of Disabled People’s Organisations (DPOs).
Limpopo Disability Empowerment director Paulina Malope said it is important to make the community aware about the DPOs because they are the representative voices for those with disabilities.
“We do not only look to educate the communities, we want them to be aware of the rights that people with disabilities have and it is through awareness campaigns that we help subside stereotypical mindsets about people with disabilities. As our motto says; disability is not a barrier to success and prosperity. We are here to make sure that communities and disabled people know we are available to help them reach their potential.”
The organisation was established in 2018 and registered as a non-profit organisation with the aim to uplift, educate and empower persons with disabilities with skills to make them employable.
According to Malope, they realised many disabled persons do not live their lives to the fullest, due to several factors which include lack of knowledge, ignorance and negligence.
All these possibilities can be labeled as abuse and violation of people with disabilities’ rights to dignity and limits them to an extreme extent.
