ORGANISATIONS representing disabled people have complained about the majority of Bulawayo buildings for not being user friendly for the disabled as they remain inaccessible.
JUNIOR MOYO OWN CORRESPONDENT
In a workshop organised by the Federation of Organisations of the Disabled People in Zimbabwe, in collaboration with the Disability HIV and Aids Trust (Dhat), the organisations said the city buildings do not cater for the disabled.
Despite their disabilities, they noted they had the ability to do various projects for a living, but failed to access certain necessities because most buildings have no facilities to cater for them.
“As for those with wheelchairs, they can’t access facilities to cater for their needs due to the structure of the buildings in town,” Zifa Moyo, chairperson of Dhat, said.
Moyo said the disabled fail to access required medical help due to the absence of equipment to enable them to access such facilities in hospitals. As a result, disabled people felt side-lined in their communities.
Moyo said some misconceptions in society that disabled people could not fend for themselves and were not sexually active had motivated them to raise awareness about their health and wellbeing.
“We will continue to raise awareness campaigns for the disabled because they are also humans like anyone in society and they have the ability to fend for themselves and are also prone to sexual reproductive diseases which shows that they also need access to facilities,” she added.
