Kempton mother in wheelchair is an activist for disability rights
Going back to her old school after the accident was dreadful as there were stairs everywhere.
Kempton’s Nonhlanhla Ntuli is an activist for equity this Casual Day and every day.
When she was 11 years old, Nonhlanha Ntuli was travelling with her parents when the family was involved in a partial head-on collision. Both her mom and dad escaped with minor injuries, but Nonhlanhla was flung forward in the car, and her spine was crushed. She’s been in a wheelchair ever since.
Now the 27-year-old Nonhlanhla is happily married to Clint, a registered dietician she met in 2010, and they are proud parents to Pascale, a delightful seven-month-old baby girl.
Casual Day is every year a big day in the family’s life. Always held on the first Friday in September, Casual Day asks South Africans to buy a Casual Day sticker, dress according to the theme, and be part of a growing call for equity and universal access to human rights.
The 2018 Casual Day theme is “Be an Everyday Hero with Persons with Disabilities”. It’s a theme that Nonhlanhla feels very strongly about because she says persons with disabilities are the real heroes in the world.
“We’re just so much stronger than average people. We have to be. We need to get on in a world that’s not made for us and that excludes us.”
Nonhlanhla remembers being discharged after a car crash in 2002. She’d been in the hospital for four months undergoing various surgeries and rehabilitative therapy. She insisted on going back to her old school. Everyone there welcomed her return with open arms.
“But it was dreadful,” she says. “There were stairs everywhere: into class, onto the playing fields, into the school hall, to the tuckshop. I had to spend all day sitting in the principal’s office because I could not get anywhere in my wheelchair.”
After a few months, her family gave up, and Nonhlanhla moved to a school for children with disabilities.
“Life began anew for me,” she says smiling. “Suddenly I was in an environment where disability was normalised. Where it was easy to do things: to play sport, to spend time with my friends, to do really well academically. When you’re living in a world that’s designed to accommodate you, you live a successful life.”
Today, Nonhlanhla is an activist for disability rights and, to her, this is what Casual Day stands for.
“When you buy a Casual Day sticker, you’re not just giving money to persons with disabilities. You’re saying you support us in our demand for an equitable, fair world. You’re being a hero with us and you’re aligning to our cause.”
There’s no reason at all for persons with disabilities not to excel in whatever they choose to do. “Just give us the means to work, to study, to compete and we’ll be there,” Nonhlanhla says.
“This Casual Day, your sticker proves to the world that you understand this and that you support human rights for everybody.”
Get your R10 Casual Day sticker from Edgars, Edgars Active, Jet, Jetmart, CNA, Boardmans, Game, Dionwired, Toys R Us, Babies R Us, Alphapharm or Express Stores nationwide.
Visit www.casualday.co.za for more information and wear your sticker on September 7.
