An assessment of disability policies in South Africa and Germany

Abstract

Living with disability is not a disease. However some people tend to retire to offer services to persons with disabilities. Persons with disabilities are usually discriminated and they experience inequality, inequity, social exclusion and stigmatisation. They usually experience similar treatment in the public, workplace, educational environment as well as at home. Women and girls living with disabilities may experience double discrimination based on both disability and gender. The paper seek to juxtapose the impact of policies for people living with disabilities in South Africa and Germany. The main objective of the article is to identify areas that still need to be addressed theoretically and practically in order to have a collective contribution from the Social Work perspective regarding policy matters in both countries.The paper will rely on primary and secondary source of information. Data was analysed thematically based on secodary sources. The finding shows that policies that exists in both countries are helpful although a lot of people living with disabilities are still disadvantaged particularly in South Africa. Some policies need to be reviewed to challenge structural inequalities in order to improve the implementation of services in both countries.

Key words: persons with disability, social work, disability policy, social exclusion, stigmatisation, discrimination