By Shamila Surjoo

Now in its 75th year, KwaZulu-Natal Blind and Deaf Society has undergone several paradigm shifts and regular intensification of its aims and objectives. This comes after growth in knowledge, new international perspectives on disability (such as the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities) and changes in South African legislation, notably the Constitution, Bill of Rights and the Employment Equity Act, which for the first time entrenched the rights of persons with disabilities.

Today, the legal impact of personal rights, including compulsory education, employment targets for persons with disabilities and their right to equality in law, services and access to the benefits of our democracy have transformed the Society into an education, rehabilitation, skills development and training provider. The Society is presently capable of enabling, empowering and advocating for all its clients, young, old or multi-disabled.

The vision of our founders set the goals, and with shifting targets throughout the seven decades, those who followed built on the foundations to raise the value of the Society as a premier service institution for blind, deaf and deafblind persons in the province. Not only does it own its headquarters in Durban and a Rehabilitation Centre in Pietermaritzburg, it also owns two leading schools, in Durban (V.N. Naik School for the Deaf) and in Pietermaritzburg (Arthur Blaxall School for the Blind). In addition, the Society established the Durban School for the Hearing Impaired - housed on State property in Amanzimtoti. Through these institutions, hundreds pass each year equipped for tertiary education, the world of work, fitted to live independent and dignified lives.

Society’s growth may be measured by the range and variety of its services:
Rehabilitation and Development Services being one of its main focus areas– channelling access to resources, such as health, education, skills development and economic development. The Rehabilitation and Development Services further encompasses independence skills training (skills of daily living and orientation and mobility), job placement and early childhood development through a multi disabled support programme.

Skills training for adults are provided by Optima College KwaZulu-Natal at its two campuses- Durban and Pietermaritzburg. Courses include telephony training, CCTV surveillance for deaf students, reflexology, call centre training, Braille and South African Sign Language training. The Adult Basic Education project has a wider reach through the Society’s training and supervision of Kha Ri Gude and Masifundisane National and Provincial projects. In addition, interpreter and communication services are provided to public service providers such as clinics, police stations and hospitals.

The Pietermaritzburg Rehabilitation Centre has established a successful hydroponics farming project which is both a funding instrument and a training facility in plant husbandry, business and agricultural management. The project runs in tandem with the services of a protected workshop for clients in Pietermaritzburg. The Society recognises that skills development is an important means to empower persons with disabilities and has implemented many skills development programmes and currently offers training in basket weaving and beadwork. In addition to the audiology facilities provided at the V.N. Naik School and the Durban School for the Hearing Impaired, a fully fledged audiology and Eye Clinic are being established at its headquarters in Durban to coincide with the Society’s 75th anniversary .

The Advocacy Committee of the Society represents the needs and rights of disabled commuters, clients and employees. The Employment Equity Act, as it enshrines the rights of blind and deaf employees, and the Bill of Rights are used in the protection and representation of clients who are being disadvantaged at the work place.

It has been a long, but fruitful journey for members of the Society - from being part of the Natal Bantu Society formed by Mrs Constance Cawston and then revived by the Reverend Paul Sykes and then led ably by Mr. Kunnabiran Pillay - an inspired visionary who laid the foundation of a unique institution. Fortunately, the commitment of Mr. Cassim Bassa, who followed him, saw the establishment of a mobile eye care clinic and blindness prevention campaigns throughout the province. During his leadership the schools were established as fully fledged centres of excellence and became trendsetters for the education of blind and deaf persons. Chairmen who followed Mr. Bassa were – Mr. J. Kissoon Singh and his son Mr. A. Kisson Singh - both lawyers and Mr. R.R. Pillay who added value through his experience in education of deaf persons. Presently, Mr. K. R. Sitaram has experience in education, rehabilitation, welfare services and old age and child care.

The Society has provided South Africa with exceptional leadership from among its students who have transcended barriers, to achieve the highest distinction in academic standards and in quality of services. Among them are Justice Zak Yacoob of the S.A. Constitutional Court, Praveena Sukraj-Ely of the Justice Department, Siva Moodley of the Disability Unit at UNISA - who all hold doctoral degrees. Mr. Jace Nair who is presently the first person of colour to head the South African National Council for the Blind, and Mr. Bruno Druchen who heads DeafSA.

The KwaZulu-Natal Blind and Deaf Society has travelled the long road through penury and despair to success and distinction. It has located itself among the best practice institutions in the Republic of South Africa.

A Campers Experience – My first Higher Ground camp!

-- By Dewald van Dewenter, Higher Ground camp for adults with a visual impairment, January 2011 in the Western Cape.

The week of the 15th to the 21st of January 2011 I went to my first Higher Ground camp. It was an amazing week jam-packed with activities, games and all sorts of fun stuff.  I never had a week like this before, and I will never forget it.  I met a lot of new people. There wasn't one person I have met before.  Some were familiar on the email mailing lists etc. but, others I have never heard of.

A group of blind people chatting to each other, in small groups, sharing experiences, and doing fun stuff together blind people won't usually do on normal camps.  On a camp for seeing eyes, I would probably have said, no thank you, if they should ask me if i would like to go kayaking with them.

But at this camp all the blind campers took off their blindfolds of fear and uncertainty, and just: DID IT.

The sighted volunteers, Kerneels and Emma, Elaine, Bronwill and Morris, and 6 Christian Missionaries from America "Sarah, Blake, Will, Carrie, Alexandra and Heidi", served us with their love, patience, willingness, and also with delicious food.  We felt like kings and queens.

They prompted us to do extreme things, which I would probably not do on my own, like for instance, swim in the cold cold freezing water at Wortelgat's beach, and, jump off a 2-3 meter sand dune on the beach.

We did all kinds of activities, like:

• Hiking, fast or slow, through the lovely bushveld;
• Kayaking on the lagoon next to the mountain, a blind person with a sighted volunteer.  We had lots of fun, and I expected to fall off the kayak into the water, but I didn't hear of one person falling off by accident.  We had lots of fun, bumping into each other on purpose, racing, and accidentally, run right into the reeds, and blaming each other for it;
• Archery: We had to try and shoot three balloons on the target. Well, I got at least one, the other arrows were quite near. Each person had a try, and the volunteers helped us aim in the "general" direction, and shoot. It was exciting;
• Voyage on the Catamaran on the Klein River: Some sat on the ground floor, watching the captain do his job supervising him where to turn, and some actually had a chance of feeling how he steered the big boat through the raging waters of the river.  Some sat on top, on the deck above, gazing out on the gardens with roses, the mountains, stretching up to the clouds, and the valleys, down below, where cows and horses could be seen, happily grazing.  We stopped at a spot in the lagoon where we jumped off the boat, into the water, and swam there, with no limitation of the sides of a pool at home, and nothing beneath our feet but water;
• Horse riding on a bush trail that winds through veld and up the mountain, past vineyards.  Some were scared at first, but some, like me, enjoyed it immensely.
• Team challenges: We had all sorts of games like puzzles and clues the team had to figure out, or musical questions we had to answer, live Cluedo we played, and some drama we performed, radio shows, the cool talent show, where every person showed the rest what he or she could do the best.

 And when we had time off, the whole group split up in small groups, playing 30 Seconds, Chess, Dominos, card games, or just chilled.  We also had two of the volunteers reading a book for us, and they sounded like two people which any blind person would like to here reading a book on their computer, on CD, or on tape or MP3 Player.

But, as i'm finishing up, there was one thing that stood up the most, through all the activities, and fun things we did:  It was the 6 volunteers from the US, who, each day, brought a message out of the Bible, which the Lord gave to them, which were really edifying and uplifting, which formed the foundation of that day, and of the whole camp.

So, I was very reluctant and sad to say goodbye to everybody at camp, and going back to life. Because it really felt like dreaming.

For details on the camps, send an email to Emma or call her on  0 72 039 0907 or visit their website.

Eco-Access held a successful Casual Day in September 2009 at Maponya Mall. In view of this success, the management at Maponya offered the facilities to stage the 2010 Asidlaleni Tournament with LSEN (Learners with Special Educational Needs) schools.

Soccer games were held with visually impaired students and learners from Optima College, Zimeleni and Katlehong School for the Deaf. Persons with physical impairments from Artslink also participated in the tournament, gracing it with wheelchair dancing and soccer games. Gladys Agulhas has demonstrated unfailing devotion to directing and displaying the dance talent of persons with disabilities. It was a special event indeed.
 
The South African National Council for the Blind's Bureau for the Prevention of Blindness offered free eye testing services to about 280 adults on three consecutive Saturdays.
 
The participation and interaction of the public with the learners created a lot of awareness. It was great to see the general public being educated on the plight of persons with disabilities in a relaxed and fun environment. The learners, their educators and the public that got involved, won many prizes.

By Claudette Medefindt, Director for Science of Retina South Africa and Deputy President of  Retina International

Retina South Africa (one of Council's member organisations) started life as a small group of dedicated people affected by Retinitis Pigmentosa, (RP) a genetic condition that leads to vision loss. Gina Sampson, the founder, received support and encouragement from Dr. William Rowland (SA National Council for the Blind) and Professor Peter Beighton from the University of Cape Town and started the South African Retinitis Pigmentosa Society in 1979 in Cape Town. In 1980 a branch was started in (then) Transvaal and a national constitution was adopted.

The enthusiasm of the group was fuelled by the fledgling International RP movement and the name was soon changed to the RP Foundation Fighting Blindness. Gordon Cousins became National Chairman and under his dynamic leadership the foundation grew year by year to become a leading force in research to find cures and treatments for retinal conditions, both nationally and internationally. In 1984 the first gene for X–linked RP was announced at the International Congress held in Finland and Professor Shomi Battacharya started what was to become a 26-year, and ongoing, search to find all the genes causing retinal degeneration.

The first Chairman of the South African Scientific and Medical Advisory Board, Professor Neville Welsh, was a staunch believer in the possibility of a future treatment and with his support a research project was started at the University of Cape Town (UCT) with a modest grant of R15 000 in 1992. In that year South Africa also hosted the 7th World RP Congress in Johannesburg and more than 300 patients, clinicians and geneticists were inspired by the hope for treatments from the cream of international retinal researchers.
 
The team at UCT, now headed by our current Co-Chair of the SMAB, Professor Raj Ramesar, has contributed significantly to the international quest to find the genes and to understand the process of retinal vision loss. In 1994 they discovered a gene for Dominant RP and 2 years later a second dominant RP gene was found. Both of these discoveries have contributed to the world-wide knowledge of the complexity of the disease and UCT is now researching possible modes of therapy for the second gene (RP17).

In 1996 the name was again changed to the Retinal Preservation Foundation following the international trend to encompass all forms of retinal degeneration including Age Related Macular Degeneration (AMD). This foresight was almost prophetic as many of the genes underlying AMD have now been found. 

The research project at UCT was given a huge thrust in 1992 when funding from the RP Foundation of South Africa was matched by THRIP and the American Foundation Fighting Blindness resulting in a total of more than a million rand being dedicated to the project. The organisation once again followed international trends and changed name and logo to Retina South Africa at a national congress held in Johannesburg in 2001.

In 2005 the present chairman James Cape took over the reins of the organisation and his dedication to governance and fiscal control have ensured that the organisation has survived one of the most difficult times in its existence.
The first ever successful gene replacement therapy was announced in 2007. This groundbreaking trial is restoring vision to children affected by Leber Congenital Amauroses (LCA) and is nothing short of miraculous. Building on this success dozens of gene therapy trials are now being planned to treat Usher Syndrome, Stargardt Dystrophy, RP, AMD and other genetic variants of LCA. To ensure that South Africans are not left out of these new therapies Retina South Africa supports a gene tracking project at UCT.

Now, more than ever, Retina South Africa needs the support of all families affected by genetic retinal conditions for, as always, the fight against blindness is all about RP - Remarkable People.

For more information on retinal vision loss call Retina South Africa on a share call helpline at 0860 595959. Email Retina South Africa or visit their website.

The South African National Council for the Blind is the umbrella body for more than a hundred organisations for and of the blind in South Africa. Follow the link below to view an organisation, and their contact details, close to you.