Overstrand Executive Mayor Dr Annelie Rabie and Deputy Mayor Lindile Ntsabo stepped out of their comfort zones and into wheelchairs to experience the challenges disabled members of the community face every day.
Speaker Grant Cohen challenged Rabie, Ntsabo and councillors Connie Tafu-Nwonkwo and Ronald Nutt to get to the council meeting from their first-floor offices in a wheelchair and return again, as part of Disability Rights Awareness Month.
The building’s lift is currently out of order, which compelled them either to slide down the stairs or seek assistance from others.
Rabie said the exercise served to highlight the difficulty people with disabilities suffer when visiting the municipality’s head office.
Cohen said the aim was to get council involved in raising aware-ness of the difficulties disabled people face daily.
All ward councillors will take part in similar exercises next year. Cohen also challenged Municipal Manager Dean O’Neill and administration officials to spend time in a wheelchair.
“The aim is to make the Overstrand accessible for all and we need to start by looking at our own buildings,” he said. “We have a lot of work to do but I appreciate the willingness of this council to take up the challenge.”
