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2nd April is set aside as a day to comemorate World Austism Day while the entire month of April is dedicated to raising awareness about Austism. This year, the focus is on; Awareness – Acceptance – Appreciation: Moving from surviving to thriving. The day is focused on affirming and promoting the full realization of all human rights and fundamental freedoms for autistic people on an equal basis with others. Progress has been made, not least thanks to the many amazing autistic advocates who have worked tirelessly to bring the lived experience of autistic people to the wider world. Candice Rogoff, owner of the Artshop Limited is mom to an Autistic Child, Jade Pieterse. Jade is intellectually disabled. She has a very rare chromosomal abnormality that affects the 15th Chormosome (Idle 15). She has severe delay that has affected her ability to read, write and communicate. Regardless of Jade’s disability, she is emotionally highly intelligent and intuitive, which shines through her artwork. With asistance, Jade is encouraged to reach her milestones with art being one of them, she currently does most of her paintings at her moms Artshop. Jade is now 19 years old and a very happy lady who really loves to paint. This is the start of her working career for her to be able to contribute to society and save money for her future. Being an Austism awareness month, an exhibition was held to this effect at the Artshop Zambia Limited, while another event is scheduled for April 18. Candice encourages guardians and parents with children with autisim that despite the responsibility being challenging at times, it’s important to accept them as they are, and give them the best opportunities in life.

In an effort to reduce accessibility barriers, the Zambia Agency for Persons with Disabilities Agency (ZAPD) has intensified its inspections across public infrastructure.  The Persons with Disabilities Act No. 6 of 2012 stipulates that the owner or occupier of a place to which the public has access to, shall provide appropriate facilities that make the place accessible, to and available for use, by persons with disabilities in a prescribed manner, failure to which is punishable by law. It is this piece of legislation that ZAPD draws its mandate to inspect any institution to ensure that the provisions of this Act are complied with. For this reason, ZAPD Accessibility Inspectors go around public and private institutions sensitizing and conducting accessibility audits to ascertain compliance and issue adjustment orders through the Office of the Director General after a given notice where necessary. Other than that, the Agency is in constant engagements with relevant ministries to ensure that barriers are avoided at design stage. In pictures; ZAPD Inspectors at Chainama Hills College Hospital carrying out accessibility inspections and audits._ #livingnoonebehind

The Zambia Anglican Council (ZAC) has expressed interest to work with the Zambia Agency for Persons with Disabilities to uplift the lives of Persons with Disabilities (PWDs). ZAC Country Director Ms. Ellen Mubanga and Head of Programs Mr. Kelvin Munsongo this morning held a meeting with ZAPD Management seeking a common ground within which the two organizations can work together to promote the rights and the lives of PWDs through various programs and projects, most importantly in rural areas. Ms. Mubanga said in the spirit of inclusiveness, the church intends to incorporate the Disability Sector in all their programming and that this can only be achieved when they work with ZAPD, an organization with the mandate to plan, promote and administer services for all categories of disability in the Country. And Mr. Munsongo added that because disability is a cross cutting issue, the church with support from their cooperating partners is seeking areas in which they can provide support in all their programming to include PWDs with the help of the Agency such as provision of assistive devices among other services. Meanwhile ZAPD Director General Mr. Frankson Musukwa thanked ZAC for showing interest to work with ZAPD saying the church is welcome to work with the Agency to fulfill its mandate and ensure no one is left behind.

The Public Passenger Transport Cooperative (PPTC), accompanied by Inspectors from the Zambia Agency for Persons with Disabilities (ZAPD) paid a courtesy call on the Minister of Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD)Hon. Garry Nkombo to give an update on the progress made towards actualizing the “Time Efficient Public Transport System” project. PPTC has embarked on a Time Efficient Public Transport System project for the city of Lusaka with a view of introducing a new model of buses that responds to commuter needs and leaving no one behind. The project once implemented will be rolled out to all towns across the country. The proposed project is ambitious in achieving the aspirations of government in the areas of, among others, providing direct connectivity to destinations for low-cost time efficient public transport mobility to employment and business centers, education, health, economic and trading facilities. Other than that, the project aims at introducing E-payment systems of all operational transactions in the Public Transport Sector and bring in a New Model Mass Movement Bus, which is disability friendly, with financial assistance from cooperating partners. Because bringing this mass movement bus comes at a huge cost of an estimated K3.2 Million, PPTC will pilot the project using a low cost vehicle to create visibility and an entry point for financing. Receiving the Concept Note, Implementation plan and Framework, Hon. Garry Nkombo expressed gratitude to PPTC for the time taken to share a matter that is of governments’ interest. Hon. Nkombo said the submissions are well-noted and that in due course, after looking at the action points thoroughly, the ministry will give feedback and possibly bring in more stakeholders to participate in actualizing the aspirations therein, which are similar to that of government. The PPTC Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Mr. Sydney Mbewe said his organization has been actively engaging relevant ministries, agencies and other organizations within the public transport sector for a buy-in of PPTC’s thoughts on what the organization perceives to be a livable space in the Public Transport sector. Mr. Mbewe was quick to mention that the Green Environmental Fund has already shown interest in the project and indicated possible funding. He said time efficient mobility is key in promoting national economic growth but that unfortunately the Public Transport Sector in Zambia is not inclusive of persons with disabilities. The use of purpose made vehicles and alternative routes aligns perfectly with ZAPD’s commitment to promoting accessibility standards and awareness.

Zambia Agency for Persons with Disabilities (ZAPD) Director General Mr. Frankson Musukwa says there is need to sensitize persons with disabilities on the importance of being registered and getting a Disability Card. Mr. Musukwa says in order to meaningfully involve persons with disabilities in the development agenda, there is need to have them registered with ZAPD and this can be done from the Agency’s provincial and district offices across the country. The ZAPD Director General said it is only with a well maintained and up to date Disability Management Information System (DMIS) that the Agency will be able to provide credible up-to-date data, for planning and meaningful support to persons with disabilities. Mr. Musukwa said, the disability card, apart from being the proof of disability of the holder is key to accessing important public services and social protection programmes from government. He appealed to all stakeholders to treat disability inclusion as a moral obligation for all Zambians, and a priority on the country’s development agenda and ensure that no one is left behind. Mr. Musukwa added that government is committed to this cause as can be seen by the continuous increase of the budgetary allocation towards Social Protection Programmes that target the poor and vulnerable in society throughout the entire life cycle. He said this is an indication that the country is strongly committed to the general principles of the United Nations Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), such as the principle of non-discrimination, equality of opportunity and acceptance of persons with disabilities as part of the human diversity and humanity. Meanwhile Mr. Musukwa has commended the Catholic Relief Services (CRS) for the support and positive attention exhibited towards leaving no one behind in the development agenda and government’s long-term vision of inclusive development. He said he is aware of the good works being done by CRS under the Inclusive Family Strengthening Program in Luapula and Copperbelt provinces. Mr. Musukwa said this at the Community Dialogue meeting organized by CRS in Ndola.