HOW THE ASSOCIATION FOR THE PHYSICALLY DISABLED CAN HELP YOU

The Association for the Physically Disabled (APD) is a registered non-profit organisation helping people with most forms of physical disability. APD provides services to People Living with Disabilities at grassroots level in Gauteng Province.

HISTORY
The association was founded in 1934, however, the first seeds were planted by the Hope Convalescent Home Committee in the late 1920’s. As the Home could not care for boys older than 14 and girls older than 12 at the time, the Committee recommended to the founders and trustees of the Home (Schumacher Trust) that a portion of their grounds be granted as a site for a new training home to accommodate the older children.
By 1934 the growing awareness of the plight of people with disabilities, fanned by the Johannesburg branch of the National Council for Women of South Africa (NCWSA), culminated in a public meeting on this topic convened by the wife of the then Mayor of Johannesburg, Mr D Penry Roberts. Those present agreed on the importance of establishing a training home for children with physical disabilities and elected a committee – The Crippled Children’s Training Home Fund – whom they tasked with the responsibility to raise the funds required to build such a home. Six months later most of the money needed for the proposed Hope Training Home had been secured.

CAREGIVERS
APD employs people as caregivers. Late in 1990 the organisation employed the first batch of caregivers and trained them in activities of daily living, e.g. bathing, exercises, incontinent management, dressing of bed sores and light meal preparation. Since then, their caregivers have helped many hundreds of people in the communities of Soweto, Tembisa, Alexander and Johannesburg.
APD undertakes duties pertaining to your general well-being and safety, personal hygiene and dressing, meal preparation and feeding, toileting, light domestic work etc. For as long as you need their help.

Assistance for People who are Permanently: It is available for as many hours and days as you require.
Assistance for People who are Temporarily Incapacitated: Aimed at able-bodied people who need somebody to care for them at home once they are discharged from hospital. They listen and work with you.

RECRUITMENT
APD also provides a specialist service to employers seeking to employ people with disabilities. Their database has a range of candidates from the very inexperienced, seeking learnership and internship opportunities, to highly skilled and qualified people with disabilities.
They cater for both the needs of their candidates and the employers with whom they work with. Their experience in the field of disabilities generally enables them to offer not only recruitment services but to be able to offer a whole range of additional services vital to the employment of people with disabilities.

They can:
-assist you in making your premises accessible,
-help you find solutions for the needs of individuals in terms of reasonable accommodation,
-provide awareness and sensitisation training,
-enhance your employees understanding of disability through the provision of team building / exhibition and entertainment opportunities.

ASSOCIATED SERVICES
In addition to their care-giving services they can assist you with the following:
-Social Work counselling
-Hiring of wheelchairs.

APD IS JUST A PHONE CALL AWAY
For more information about their services and assistance in formulating a tailor-made care-giving package for you, please contact their Project manager: Community Services (Luckmore Thakachicha) on 011-646-8331 or 0781957636, or rachell@apdjhb.co.za.