Walkabout to raise awareness for disabled learners

AUCKLAND PARK – Johannesburg School for the Blind and Children of Fire embarked on a symbolic walkabout around the suburb of Auckland Park.

Founder of Children of Fire, Bronwen Jones, said the walk was about raising awareness about the poor condition of the streets that affect disabled people’s ability to walk around freely in their neighbourhood.

“We would like to demonstrate the difficulty children have when they have to walk on uneven cracked surfaces, manholes that poke out the pavement and plants that are growing on the pavements,” said Jones.

“The children are also worried about the local ‘land-grabs’ where suburban house owners take over the pavements outside their homes [by placing] rocks, plants and solid barriers [on the pavements]. These make blind children trip over and for wheelchair users it becomes difficult.”

The Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA) was also invited to the walkabout to get their assistance with the problem.

The agency’s spokesperson Bertha Peters-Scheepers said they would evaluate the issues to see which ones could be resolved. She believed this was a good initiative to bring attention to how service delivery could be improved and said the community needed to work together.

“This is a service delivery issue and that is why I’m here today. We want to ensure that the children are able to walk without stumbling on the road and get wherever they need to go. We will do whatever we can to clear the sidewalks,” said Peter-Scheepers.

Metro police chief superintendent Wayne Minnaar agreed that space needed to be made for pedestrians and all pavements should be in a good condition for people with disabilities.

“We will work with the JRA and the [Metro police] commander to improve the roads and pavements,” said Minnaar.