Pretoria – President Jacob Zuma is expected to officially open the National Disability Rights Summit 2016, on Thursday.
The three-day summit will take place in Centurion from 10 - 12 March. It is hosted by the Department of Social Development under the theme ‘Unified in diversity and disability, together advancing people's power’.
The summit will seek to strengthen consensus on an accelerated programme of action to implement the White Paper on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (WPRPD).
The summit also coincides with Human Rights Month, which is celebrated annually in South Africa in March. It demonstrates government's continued commitment to work with stakeholders and the disability sector.
South Africa has achieved a lot in realising the political and socio-economic rights of persons with disabilities, as entrenched in the Bill of Rights, including the rights to equality, dignity and self-reliance.
President Zuma will also on the sidelines of the summit preside over the first meeting of the Presidential Working Group on Disability.
The summit will also showcase the Disability Rights Exhibition, which will provide information and exposure on the various types of reasonable accommodation support for persons with disabilities. It will also have a reader's corner with exhibits of books published by writers with disabilities and disability-related magazines. – SAnews.gov.za
