Disability in South Africa : collective recourse for family members as right bearers

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to highlight the very real fact that disability does not only affect the life of the individual with the disability but it also affects each and every member of an affected family. This will include extended family members. Every person is entitled to rights and freedoms as stipulated in the South African Constitution and these extend to family members within an affected family. The main contribution of this study is to put forward an argument for the collective recourse for family members as right bearers with a particular focus on housing, transport, education, health care, grants and general accessibility within communities. The study also highlights the effects perceptions of disability have within societies. The study demonstrates that stigma, myths and superstitions surrounding disability shun and isolate not only the individual but all associated with the individual. These attitudinal and environmental barriers infringe upon the living philosophy of Ubuntu. This philosophy emphasises and continually reinforces the concept of "l am, because you are". In other words, a person is a person through other people, each sharing a common humanity and oneness. Bringing the principle of Ubuntu to bear on the regime of disability rights would therefore highlight disability as a collective issue, thus bringing affected families and their rights into the realm of disability rights.