Municipality hosts Disability Summit
Newcastle Municipality Speaker, Cllr J. Mkhwanazi, said the community should play their role in ensuring people with disability never feel like outcasts.
The Newcastle Municipality Special Programmes Wing held a Disability Summit at the oSizweni Community Hall in March.
Under the theme, “There is nothing about us without us”, residents expressed their different views at the summit.
At the event, Mayor Ntuthuko Mahlaba was quoted saying people with disabilities should be appreciated in all communities.
“As the municipality we have the responsibility to protect, promote and ensure that people with disabilities have full enjoyment of all human rights. Their dignity must be respected at all times and we should always remember that they too are human beings.”
Many people living with a disability said they still struggle with some issues in society, stating that public transport, like taxis and buses, needed to accommodate disabled people, especially people using wheelchairs.
The Mayor’s Manager, Sibonelo Mtshali, said the annual summit was done to encourage people living with disabilities, to make their views and concerns about the challenges facing them known.
“We are here to tell people living with disability that they are always supported by us, especially by the municipality.
At the new municipal building we have constructed an access especially for people with wheelchairs to use.
“This is to show that we are trying to ensure that people with disability never feel left out. We are also keen on hearing how we can assist with any situation they encounter, and how we can solve it.”
Newcastle Municipality Speaker, Cllr J. Mkhwanazi, said the community should play their role in ensuring people with disability never feel like outcasts.
“You will remember that in the olden days, our elders use to keep people living with disabilities away from the rest of the world.
“They would be locked up in the house. We can’t blame them too much, because maybe they also didn’t understand how to handle that sort of situation. We are now growing, and we have come a long way and therefore people with disabilities must and should be fully accepted in all societies.
“They must be given the same respect that any other person is given. We all need to take care of each other, so we can make the world a better place” she concluded.
ALSO READ: Special Programmes Unit host Disability Summit – (Gallery)
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