09 Dec 2014

Assistant Minister for Presidential Affairs and Public Administration, Mr Phillip Makgalemele, has urged civil servants and the public to dedicate at least half a day every month to help people living with disabilities.

Speaking at the International Day of People living with Disability in Palapye recently, Mr Makgalemele urged everybody to mainstream ICT to redress all challenges faced by people with disabilities. He also encouraged people with disabilities to think outside the box to explore opportunities in ICT for their maximum benefit. 

Mr Makgalemele, who is also MP for Shoshong, said government was committed to accommodating people with disabilities in the mainstream society. He said some initiatives had been made, which included setting up the national coordinating committee on disabilities, the technical committee on disabilities as well as the district disability coordinating committee.

He also noted that there was an ongoing policy that government was doing to make sure that people with disabilities were being catered for in all aspects in the planned governmental development policies and schemes, which also catered for all stakeholders, guardians and caretakers of disable people.The policy will also include the convention on right of person with disabilities.

“On numerous occasions we have expressed sympathy and pity towards people with disabilities instead of understanding their situation, in some instances we have protected them to shield our inadequacies instead of creating an environment that facilitate their active participation,” he said.

He said people with disabilities were not to be ridiculed, undermined and vilified and should appreciate the challenge they face.

Regarding employment opportunities for people with disabilities, Mr Makgalemele said it is a challenge for people with disabilities to secure gainful employment in the contemporary competitive labour market which is driven by the demand for credentials.

He said majority of them have not optimally accessed education due to a number of barriers like infrastructure inaccessibility, untrained instructors, inadequate specialized learning materials and societal myths and wrong beliefs.

More often than not, he said people with disabilities were not considered in employment due to negative perceptions regarding their ability to contribute meaningfully to the economy of the organisations yet research has proved that people with disabilities were more productive than can be imagined.

While there is a rapid increase in the use of ICT worldwide, he said not enough has been done to benefit people with disabilities.

He said it was imperative as a country to embark on deliberate initiatives with a view to closing the existing gaps that reinforce exclusion of people with disabilities in all spheres of life including ICT.

Mr Makgalemele further said ICT has the potential for making significant improvements in the lives of people with disabilities, allowing them to enhance their social and economic integration in communities by enlarging the scope of activities available to them.

The use of ICT, he said has the potential to provide people with disabilities unique opportunities to effectively access education, skills training, employment and further accord them chance to actively participate in the socio-economic and cultural life of their communities.

“There is therefore an urgent need to improve the access of ICT for this vulnerable group,” he said. The day was held under the theme “Sustainable Development, The Promise of Technology.”

For his part Palapye Administrative Authority Chairman Mr Lesedi Phuthego said all stakeholders should go an extra mile to educate, recognize and develop people with disability, and encourage them not to undermine their integrity as they also have capability like any other person hence can contribute significantly toward the economy.

Mr Phuthego said people with disabilities have skills and power in the society which they can portray without fear.

He also urged parents not to hide people with disabilities so that they too can benefit from government programmes aimed at uplifting the livelihoods of Batswana. ENDS