Disability Awareness Campaign 2023: Access to Information is Access to Opportunities

The University of Zululand’s (UNIZULU) Disability Unit together with the Transformation and Social Inclusion Office recently held a disability awareness campaign at the King Bhekuzulu Hall.

The purpose of this event was to increase the attendees’ awareness of opportunities for both personal and professional growth. The programme included a panel discussion on a range of subjects, such as academic inclusion, social inclusion, mental health, substance addiction, and resource accessibility.

Six students from the Disability Unit participated in the panel discussion, where they discussed the themes and expressed their experiences, ideas, and opinions. Halala Biyela, one of the six panel members mentioned the issue of instructors disregarding them or their disability because they often require extra attention. “We get tired of reminding our lecturers that we need a certain kind of treatment to make our academics effortless and possible,” she said.   

The panel also explored the issue of isolation, which occurs when students with disabilities segregate themselves from the rest of the student population. This, according to an observation by the Disability Unit and the Transformation and Social Inclusion Office, is due to the fact that the majority of our pupils originate from rural areas where they learned the instinct to be overprotective of themselves.

“When you speak of transformation, you are not referring to something that has an ending because we transform every day,” said Phiwayinkosi Mjadu, the care manager for the Disability Unit.

Mjadu also emphasised that students should take advantage of the event to gain something productive. “As we are here, let not our gathering here be just a gathering to tick on the calendar that on the 14th we were here. Make it a point that as you are here, when you go out, you know the things that were discussed here,” he said.

• Nomvelo Xulu

Picture: Xolani Ncube