In search of a landing place for persons with disabilities: A critique of South Africa’s skills development programme

Abstract

South African legislation is viewed as progressive in relation to persons with disabilities. Policies addressing socio-economic inequality include a focus on promoting skills development and employment for persons with disabilities. A predominant instrument for providing post-school training and work opportunities to disadvantaged youth, including persons with disabilities, is learnership programmes funded through the Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs). Despite enabling policies and investment in learnerships, persons with disabilities comprise only 1.3% of the workforce, while an estimated 15% of the population are disabled. This situation opens up the skills development strategy, and supporting legislation, for some critical review. Using Critical Disability Studies as a lens, this paper offers three critiques concerning the operation of learnerships for disability inclusion in South Africa; (1) neglecting to align skills development and market needs holds persons with disabilities in a cycle of training and poverty; (2) focusing exclusively on providing hard skills fails to account for complex challenges faced by persons with disabilities; and (3) viewing skills development and inclusive employment as a charitable endeavour fails to achieve social justice. This paper argues that the planning and implementation of learnerships should respond to current debates concerning holistic approaches to inclusive development.