It’s Disability Awareness Month

South Africa celebrates National Disability Rights Awareness Month annually between 3 November and 3 December, with International Day for Persons with Disabilities as the closing on 3 December.

This year the month is being celebrated under the theme Break Barriers, Open Doors to realise an Inclusive Society for All.

Department of Women, Children and People with Disabilities Deputy Minister, Hendrietta Bogopane Zulu launched the month at an event held in Kimberley in the Northern Cape Province under the theme Disability and Religion.

South Africa ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and its Optional Protocol in 2007. The CRPD recognises that disability is an evolving concept that results from the interaction between persons with impairments and attitudinal and environmental barriers that hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others.