The University of Pretoria’s (UP’s) Department of Human Resources (HR) is on a mission to reach staff members across all campuses to raise awareness about the services, support and assistance from the department that are available to staff members.

Basiami Disipi, UP’s Employment Equity and B-BBEE Specialist within the HR Department, says this is to ensure that all staff members who are living with a permanent or temporary disability receive and take advantage of the services and resources that are available to them. 

This awareness drive is in line with national Casual Day, which is celebrated and marked annually on the first Friday of September. Casual Day was conceptualised in 1994 by the National Council of and for Persons with Disabilities (NCPD) with the aim of raising funds and creating awareness about the challenges and potential of persons with disabilities.

Since its inception, Casual Day has grown to into the largest and most successful national fundraising and awareness campaign for persons with disabilities, and has raised and distributed over R450 million through the sale of Casual Day stickers and merchandise. UP has also successfully participated in the annual Casual Day.

“In March 2023, the University of Pretoria enlisted the services of an occupational therapist (OT) to support our efforts, and to ensure that we continue to provide reasonable accommodation and reach our 2% target as required in terms of the UP Employment Equity Plan,” Disipi says.

“We can provide reasonable accommodation in terms of assistive technologies and devices that an employee living with a disability needs to enhance their optimal functionality. For example, if somebody needs special furniture that will aid them, or someone has a visual or hearing impairment, they can be provided with the resources they need. The OT can conduct an assessment and functional screening to determine the appropriate assistive devices or technologies required, and we can make the necessary provisions,” he explains.

The resources for this support are drawn from a budget that is ring-fenced to see to the provision of reasonable accommodation for staff members living with a disability.

In addition, Disipi says, there are funds that have been specifically set aside for the professional development of university employees that are living with a disability.

“If a staff member has requirements for development in specific areas of work, they can approach [the] Learning and Development [team in HR] and make that request. There are funds that have been set aside for that.”

To ensure that the university’s physical environment, infrastructure and facilities are user-friendly for staff and students living with disabilities, UP continuously conducts a facilities audit to ensure that the campuses’ infrastructure and built environment are complaint with universal access standards.

“There is a budget to identify and rectify the buildings and facilities that are not fully compliant with universal access – these could be ramps, bathroom facilities and many other things that we need to have in place to ensure access and ease of use for people living with disabilities. For example, there is the walkway… yellow stripes that you see around campus which were designed and developed to assist employees and students with virtual impairment,” Disipi explains.

In line with ensuring that the University’s staff and student body is diverse, Disipi says there are also bursaries available to fund students who are living with disabilities.

“We need to increase our staff complement significantly by the end of 2025,” Disipi says. “To achieve that goal, we realised that one of the opportunities we have are students that are already at UP whose education we can invest in. That way, we can have a pathway of students who will transition into staff members.”  

“There are lot of things that we are doing, and our intention with the awareness drive is to reach staff members and to encourage those who have not disclosed that have a disability to do so. We understand that some people choose not to disclose that they are living with a disability for a number of reasons. Our concern is that those staff members then miss out on the services and support available to them, and they don’t receive the benefits that they could get from the University.”