16th June 1976. The Soweto uprising in South Africa. Along time ago, and not much to do with the current disability movement in the UK right? No, wrong. I have been studying international perspectives on disability since the start of this year and I really wanted to share the surprising connections that I have found when looking at South Africa and in particular Soweto.
Historically, South Africa is I think most well known for its Apartheid regime, and the imprisonment of Nelson Mandela, who spent 27 years on Robin Island before coming to power in 1994 in the first non racial elections held there. For those who don't know, the Soweto uprisings (as it is now called) started off as a protest, by schoolchildren who didn't want to be taught Afrikaans at school, because it wasn't their native language. Although it is very hard to determine the exact events of the day, it resulted in hundreds of schoolchildren being shot by the police and army because of their protest. Because of the colour of their skin.
Soweto (Literally SOuth WEst TOwnship) was a township in South Africa that had been created to keep black people segregated from white people. It was a poor community, conditions were basic, and life was hard. To be a black person in South Africa was to be right at the bottom of the systemically imposed racial hierarchy. There was only one thing worse. That was to be a black disabled person. As there was very little state provision for black people, working for a living was essential for survival. If you couldn't work, (considering the fact that the jobs for black people involved long hours, physical labour and pretty much all the things white people didn't want to) you couldn't survive, or you had to rely on someone else for your survival.
As this article suggests black disabled people were often segregated in institutions which, as there was little funding were harsh environments and held little hope of a decent life. In South Africa (probably more so than in the UK at the moment) work was seen as the answer, the way out of poverty and powerlessness. It was quite literally the key to survival. In 1981 a group of Disabled people in Soweto (I can find no information about their racial identities) decided to change things.
They set up an organisation called the Self Help Association of Paraplegics (SHAP). Its Aim was simple, to employ, and ultimately empower disabled people. It did this by creating a factory where disabled people were employed, and only disabled people were employed.
Now, pause a minute, consider the history, the backdrop to this scene. It is 1981, 5 years after the Soweto uprising, 13 years before the end of apartheid. This group of people were considered the lowest of the low in South African society. Not only did they only employ disabled people in the factory, disabled people themselves took control, and ran the factory. This was revolutionary, but speaking as someone who studied South African history at school, not overly documented or seen as such. I am guessing this is how they 'got away with it'. Black disabled people were incapable of pretty much anything in the eyes of the South African authorities, they probably didn't notice, or didn't care about this small venture, and certainly black south africans didn't see the significance, because I am guessing if they did, then once again, it would have been shut down for threatening to challenge the status quo.
This so called self help factory succeeded. They secured funding, secured contracts, and by 1989 employed 130 disabled people in various different roles in the factory. It was run by disabled people, for disabled people, and people believed in it so much, and were so motivated they would work for expenses alone to enable the factory to expand and grow to employ more, and take on more work. The model that the factory uses has been copied and is being used in other factories across south africa. You can read more about this enterprise here: http://www.independentliving.org/toolsforpower/tools31.html
So, how is this relevant to us here in the UK today? Vic Finkelstein, one of the founding fathers of the social model of disability came to the UK from Apartheid South Africa, and made a direct link between what was occouring there for black people and what was happening for disabled people in the UK. (see here: http://www.independentliving.org/docs3/finkelstein01a.html) Although he doesn't mention black disabled people directly, he describes his experience as a white disabled person being like that of a black person, denied entry to buildings and unable to fully engage with society (until he went to jail) and it was this experience that had a direct impact on his desire to change the system for disabled people in the UK.
The main message i get from this case study, is that of hope. That even in the most oppressive of regimes, the people who are right at the bottom of the social structure in society can do something like this. It is akin to the 'nothing about us without us' movement in calling for more authenticity when it comes to the way society deals with disabled people. To give back the control to disabled people. More so, especially now, it gives me great encouragement for the new disability movement, and it motivates me not to give up. If a group of disabled south africans can bring about such positive change, why can't we? It is not beyond our power, or expertise to replicate what the self help factory has done (the emancipation of disabled people,not the literal activity) It really makes me think that anything is possible, and I hope it will make you think too.
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