People living with blindness in the Eastern Cape have made a call to premier Phumulo Masualle to provide them with orientation and mobility practitioners in workplaces, including government offices, to help familiarise themselves with the environment.
They want the state to employ braille instructors in schools and provide enough resources to enable their children to receive quality education so as to better equip themselves for life outside.
These issues were raised during the first day of a three-day blind indaba held at the Savoy Hotel in Mthatha at the weekend.
Provincial executive committee member for the South African National Council for the Blind Thandile Gladile-Butana told officials from Masualle’s office that very few people living with blindness were ever employed in senior managerial positions in government.
“If you look for a job they will be impressed with your CV but as soon as they see that you are blind, their whole attitude changes,” she said.
“We need orientation and mobility practitioners to be employed to teach people skills to survive daily. Blind people need to be taught how to use a walking cane, they need to know how the office is arranged and where the toilet is.”
This would create an environment which would enable the blind to move around more independently.
According to statistics from the National Council for the Blind, there are about 1.1 million people living with blindness in the country.
Gladile-Butana said 200000 of these were in the Eastern Cape.
They want their own tertiary schools as technical and vocational education and training facilities in South Africa were not equipped to deal with blind people.
In addition, although there were special schools for the blind, many lacked the required resources, including Perkins Brailler technicians.
Perkins Brailler is a sophisticated machine that can load braille textbooks. It reportedly costs R75000.
However, she said in many schools, up to five children often had to share one machine.
In some instances, the machines were broken and there were no technicians to fix them.
A manager for disability in the office of the premier, Sithembele Lunguza, said they would compile a report to be handed over to senior management. — sikhon@dispatch.co.za
EC blind appeal to premier for practitioners and resources
They want the state to employ braille instructors in schools and provide enough resources to enable their children to receive quality education so as to better equip themselves for life outside.
These issues were raised during the first day of a three-day blind indaba held at the Savoy Hotel in Mthatha at the weekend.
Provincial executive committee member for the South African National Council for the Blind Thandile Gladile-Butana told officials from Masualle’s office that very few people living with blindness were ever employed in senior managerial positions in government.
“If you look for a job they will be impressed with your CV but as soon as they see that you are blind, their whole attitude changes,” she said.
“We need orientation and mobility practitioners to be employed to teach people skills to survive daily. Blind people need to be taught how to use a walking cane, they need to know how the office is arranged and where the toilet is.”
This would create an environment which would enable the blind to move around more independently.
According to statistics from the National Council for the Blind, there are about 1.1 million people living with blindness in the country.
Gladile-Butana said 200000 of these were in the Eastern Cape.
They want their own tertiary schools as technical and vocational education and training facilities in South Africa were not equipped to deal with blind people.
In addition, although there were special schools for the blind, many lacked the required resources, including Perkins Brailler technicians.
Perkins Brailler is a sophisticated machine that can load braille textbooks. It reportedly costs R75000.
However, she said in many schools, up to five children often had to share one machine.
In some instances, the machines were broken and there were no technicians to fix them.
A manager for disability in the office of the premier, Sithembele Lunguza, said they would compile a report to be handed over to senior management. — sikhon@dispatch.co.za
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