For the past 19 years, the Hamlet Foundation, in association with the Clinix Health Group, has bestowed this national award (the only one of its kind in South Africa) on individuals and organisations who have made an outstanding contribution to the upliftment and quality of life of people with intellectual disability. Accepting the award on behalf of the Centre for AAC, proud director, Prof Juan Bornman, thanked the Hamlet Foundation for acknowledging the Centre’s steadfast advocacy, research and teaching work in the disability sector over the past 23 years.  “We are honoured to be associated with an organisation like the Hamlet Foundation that seeks to promote the empowerment of individuals with intellectual disability.” She went on to say that “People with intellectual disabilities are not charity cases and do not want to be objects of pity. Like every citizen of our country, people with intellectual disabilities want opportunities to participate in all aspects of society. This is possibly best encapsulated in the following quote of Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, ‘We are not interested in picking up the crumbs of compassion thrown from the table of someone who considers himself our master. We want the full menu of human rights.’”

More about the Hamlet Foundation: From its humble beginnings in 1954, the Hamlet Foundation today provides services and facilities for intellectually disabled children and adults, including a school for 270 children, a residential centre facility for 43 adults and a protective workshop for 140 workers with intellectual disability. To find out how you can become a friend of the Hamlet Foundation, visit their website www.hamlet.org.za