Young and ‘disabled’, but able to work
“The kitchen is my happy space, so I enjoyed learning new recipes and other aspects like hygiene and cleaning,”
Shoprite Group recently offered young, disabled South Africans skills development programmes in an effort to help them gain valuable retail experience.
Ntabiseng Jacobs (25) from the East Rand completed her Retail Readiness Programme at Checkers Boksburg.
Ntabiseng has a learning disability and trained mainly as a cook in the deli.
“The kitchen is my happy space, so I enjoyed learning new recipes and other aspects like hygiene and cleaning,” said the young student.
She feels it is important that disabled people are not overlooked for training opportunities.
“Just because you are disabled does not mean you can’t do anything.
“My hands are as capable of doing work just like an able-bodied person.”
Angelique Wagner, the public relations officer of Shoprite, said the group put 250 disabled youths from Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal through its eight-week Retail Readiness Programme.
The programme comprised of five weeks of practical training in stores and three weeks of theory.
“Young people were taught basic skills to work in retail or start their own business.
“Successful participants receive NQF-level 3 qualifications,” said Angelique.
The retailer has also rolled out a year-long learnership for disabled youths, which will see them working at various in-store departments and being awarded an NQF-level 2 qualification upon successful completion of the programme.
The group has partnered with the National Institute for the Deaf and the Tshirologo Disability Group to present this learnership.
A new intake of participants for both programmes took place in March.
Angelique said these opportunities cater for people with a range of disabilities, including hearing and visual impairment, epilepsy, intellectual disability, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.
Mbhekiseni Mthethwa (28), from Umlazi in KwaZulu-Natal, believes programmes like these are essential to foster understanding between able-bodied and disabled people.
“There is such a lot of misunderstanding about disabled people and their capabilities.
“By working with us, normal people will come to understand us better and vice versa,” said Mbhekiseni.
The young man who is visually impaired said he thoroughly enjoyed working and learning at Shoprite Britannia West Street in Durban.
“I love learning new things, but most of alI it was a great pleasure meeting new people and interacting with the customers daily.”
