Disabling workplace disability barriers

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Luveshni Odayar | Dialogue and Advocacy Fellow | Nelson Mandela Foundation | mail me |


“It is not a question of patronising philanthropy towards disabled people. They do not need the patronage of the non- disabled. It is not for them to adapt to the dominant and dominating world of the so-called non-disabled. It is for us to adapt our understanding of a common humanity; to learn of the richness of how human life is diverse; to recognise the presence of disability in our human midst as an enrichment of our diversity.”
Nelson Mandela

Umuntu Ngumuntu Ngabantu – I am because you are. That hardy gossamer of philosophic wisdom that, at inception, was so integrally interwoven into the fabric of our blood-earned democracy. That blossomed into an idealism that would later embody the ethos of what it is (or should be) to be called Mzansi.

Simply put, for readers who are happening upon this expression for the first time, it calls for human beings to cultivate societies or communities premised on their recognition of the humanity of others – the ‘common humanity’ Madiba referred to. A noble endeavour, but one which we flout as a community in our harboured misconceptions, perceptions, and treatment of fellow human beings living with disabilities.

Hope for tomorrow

I write this reflection with an air of solemnity – weary from years of having a physical impediment, invisible though it may be, upstaging my intellectual quotient or professional capacity, evidenced by the various postgraduate certificates lining my walls; but also, with an innately Taurean stubbornness that prevents me from relinquishing hope for an improved tomorrow.

Having been selected as the 2022 Dialogue and Advocacy Fellow at the Nelson Mandela Foundation, I seized the rare opportunity to integrate the plight facing persons with disabilities when trying to enter, integrate and succeed in the workplace into the broader discourse of the South African unemployment crisis.

Societal stigma

The stigma associated with persons living with disabilities in South Africa continues to


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Read the full article by Luveshni Odayar, Dialogue and Advocacy Fellow, Nelson Mandela Foundation, as well as a host of other topical management articles written by professionals, consultants and academics in the October/November 2022 edition of BusinessBrief.


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