[WATCH] Everyday barriers are no match for everyday heroes
Proceeds from Casual Day support the disability units of 11 universities, the SA Police Service and the SA National Defence Force.
For 24 years, on the first Friday of September, South Africans have renewed their support for universal access to human rights.
At work and in school, we relax our dress codes and dress up to individually express the national theme.
Your Casual Day sticker enables you to participate in this televised event, when we remind ourselves that our impairments do not disable us – disability results from our failure to create environments that are accessible to everyone.
On Casual Day, the National Council of and for Persons with Disabilities (NCPD) mobilises the nation to prevent these failures.
“Equal access is a human right,” said Mahmood Mia, who chairs the Council’s Executive Committee.
“South Africa subscribes to Article 20 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD, 2006). It requires South Africans to promote and protect personal mobility with the greatest possible independence – not only for persons with disabilities, but also for persons without disabilities.”
To achieve this goal, the NCPD championed the White Paper on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (WPRPD, 2015). It prepares reforms to establish standard design requirements, based on the principles of Universal Design and Access. This design philosophy creates public spaces and products that are both aesthetic and accessible to the maximum extent. It removes the barriers that we impose on ourselves.
“As we progress towards this ideal, our existing public spaces and transport systems fail to include 2,9 million South Africans. Every day, these heroes not only navigate through those barriers – they also organise themselves to remove them. Since 1995, these everyday heroes have raised and distributed R300 million to thousands of schools, homes, workshops and skills projects.”
Proceeds from Casual Day support the disability units of 11 universities, the SA Police Service and the SA National Defence Force. They pay for assistive devices and for upgrading of school buildings to accommodate assistive devices. They cover the cost of day care centres and food gardens. They subsidise Sign Language interpreters and lip-readers. They provide training in Universal Design for employers, and fund an employment placement service for persons with disabilities across South Africa.
Therina Wentzel-du Toit, National Director at the NCPD, said, “Ordinary, everyday South Africans being extraordinary is what makes Casual Day South Africa’s most successful advocacy and funding campaign. On Friday 7, September, join us and Be an Everyday Hero with persons with disabilities.”
Your R10 Casual Day sticker awaits you at one of these stores nationwide:
• Edgars
• Edgars Active
• Jet
• Jetmart
• CNA
• Boardmans
• Game
• Dionwired
• Toys R Us
• Babies R Us
• Alphapharm
• Express Stores
Visit https://www.casualday.co.za for more information and wear your sticker on Friday, 7 September.
The NCPD is a national coordinating forum for the nine provincial Associations for Persons with Disabilities (APDs).
The National Office is located in Gauteng, at 82 Andries Pretorius Road, Edenvale or call 011 452 2774.
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