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Why
the amendment of the Disabled Person's Act is timely and nationally
significant
National
Association of Societies for the Care of the Handicapped (NASCOH)
Extracted from NASCOH August Newsletter
August 15, 2005
NASCOH’s
effort in lobbying for the amendment and implementation of the Disabled
Persons’ Act (1992) remains a critical issue, not only to the
disability sector, but also to the nation at large, due to a number
of factors to be identified below. The continued disadvantaging
and marginalisation of the disability community in development and
governance processes places a cost on society of delayed and skewed
development. The following is a summary of the reason why there
is more need for the Disabled Persons’ Act to be amended and
implemented now, more than before. As the new legislators deliberate
on the important issues for our nation they should realise that
an equitable society places value and worth on each human being’s
contribution to the development and well being of society at all
levels.
- According
to the World Health Organization’s estimates, 10% of every
population are people with disabilities. Zimbabwe, with a population
of 12 million people therefore has 1, 2 million people with disabilities,
which is quite a sizeable chunk of the population. In the absence
of tangible statistics, these figures could have increased due
to high stress levels among Zimbabweans as life becomes more and
more unbearable with the socio-economic and political collapse.
Moreover, HIV/AIDS is adding to the number of people who are becoming
disabled each day. HIV/AIDS has given birth to disabilities like
mental challenges, physical challenges, visual impairments, hearing
impairments as well as conditions due to its disabling effects,
whereby most of the disabilities being reported now are due to
HIV/AIDS. The number of people with disabilities therefore, might
actually be more than what it is.
- The social,
economic and political impact of Operation Murambatsvina no doubt
calls for a protective legislation in place for people with disabilities.
A survey carried out by NASCOH in Chinhoyi, Bindura, Marondera,
Mutare, Masvingo, Gweru and Bulawayo has revealed shocking revelations
of the plight of people with disabilities following operation
Murambatsvina. We have established that 60 families of people
with disabilities were left stranded and have recently been housed
by Jairos Jiri Association’s Nguboyenja branch; that about
15% of people being housed at churches in Gweru are people with
disabilities; that the visually impaired people who used to beg
in the streets of Mutare are now sleeping on the veranda of toilets
in Sakubva; that 5 visually impaired couples were bundled up together
with street kids in Chinhoyi and are being kept at a certain farm
outside Chinhoyi; that parents of children with disabilities who
used to own stands at stalls in Masvingo have been displaced and
are now finding it difficult to take care of their children with
disabilities.
- Operation
Garikai has come on board with numerous stands and houses being
given to people. Unfortunately, we have not come across a case
study of special allocation of stands and houses to people with
disabilities, despite Harare’s Whitecliff residential area
alone having over 9000 stands on offer, with 600 stands being
reserved for soldiers and 400 for the police and 3 trillion dollars
having been given towards housing. Moreover, issues of accessibility
to buildings are not a priority in this rushed programme. In the
absence of a quota system and protective legislation in place,
what will happen to people with disabilities?
- Currently
Zimbabwe is facing a foreign currency crisis, which has resulted
in failure to procure fuel and the subsequent transport blues
though fuel price has increased by 300%. Furthermore, with its
Look-East Policy, the country has procured Chinese buses, which
are very inaccessible to persons with disabilities. Inaccessibility
of the modes of transport plus their shortage has negatively impacted
on people with disabilities who have suffered more during this
period of turbulence.
- The cost
of assistive devices have skyrocketed with the following being
the recent costs: wheelchairs: $12 - $15 million; Pair of hearing
aids: $8 - $10 million; Callipers: $25 million; Walking sticks:
$5 million. It should also be noted that most of the above devices
have to be imported from neighbouring countries like South Africa.
In the absence of available foreign currency, whither people with
disabilities?
- Disabilities
due to accidents have increased by 55% according to the Traffic
Safety Board and 75% of disabilities in Zimbabwe have been regarded
as disabilities, which are acquired and hence can be prevented.
- Issues of
accessibility to buildings, information, employment, education,
health, transportation and other services remain unresolved for
people with disabilities in Zimbabwe. The unemployment rate in
Zimbabwe currently stands at 80% while researches carried out
by NASCOH have revealed that 83% of buildings in Harare are inaccessible
while only 2% of people with disabilities are employed by the
public sector. With Zimbabwe being at the height of macroeconomic
instability and with a shrinking formal employment base, it is
no doubt that the percentage of people with disabilities employed
in the formal sector has drastically decreased.
The above no
doubt points out that there is more need now for a protective legislation
in place and for the implementation thereof in such an environment
hence the issue is still timely and nationally significant.
Visit the NASCOH
fact sheet
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