SA gears up to observe Disability Rights Awareness Month

The spotlight will fall on the promotion of disability rights when Minister in the Presidency for Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities, Sindisiwe Chikunga, launches DRAM this Friday.

DRAM — Disability Rights Awareness Month — is an annual awareness campaign in South Africa aimed at promoting the rights, dignity, equality and social inclusion of people with disabilities.

This year’s campaign will start off with an awareness walk by people with disabilities, from Church Square to the Union Buildings in Pretoria, on Friday.

The walk will bring together government representatives, organisations of people with disabilities, civil society, disability rights advocates and other stakeholders to raise awareness about the rights, dignity, equality and inclusion of people with disabilities.

Department spokesperson Cassius Selala said the awareness walk seeks to reaffirm that people with disabilities are equal rights holders, who must enjoy the same human rights, fundamental freedoms and opportunities as everyone else.

“It will also highlight the responsibility of government, the private sector, communities and society at large to dismantle barriers that prevent people with disabilities from participating fully and equally in all aspects of social, economic, political and cultural life,” Selala said.

The campaign is underpinned by South Africa’s constitutional commitment to equality and non-discrimination, the White Paper on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD).

These frameworks call for the protection of the rights of people with disabilities and the creation of an inclusive society in which accessibility, reasonable accommodation, independent living and meaningful participation are upheld.

Through Disability Rights Awareness Month, Selala said the Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities will strengthen public understanding of disability rights, challenge stigma and discrimination, promote accessible public spaces and services, and encourage coordinated efforts to advance the inclusion of people with disabilities in the implementation of national development priorities.

Source: SA news