Early Wednesday morning,  I was woken up by  Rene's happy voice.  She exclaimed, "Michael. Let's go to breakfast!" I  could not think of anything more fun than a meal with my self proclaimed "SA mom."  At breakfast, she gave me even more ideas of people to call in regards to research. In addition, we had lively conversation about various topics. 

Following breakfast, I walked to University of  Cape Town to take my friend Katie's phone to the office of her abroad program. Before I left the office, I decided to ask about what steps they needed to take when they had a student with a disability.  This turned out to be a golden idea as I was given directions to the disability unit for the university. 

First, I want to say that I find UCT to be a stunning campus. It is divided into three sections - lower, middle, and upper campus. These words describe how these areas are situated. To get to Upper Campus involves a pretty intense trek. I have never seen so many stairs in my life. It is worth the walk, as the view from the top is stunning. I will take and post some pictures on Tuesday night.  

When I arrived in the office, my intention was to simply set up an appointment with someone that could speak to higher education and public policy. I  was able to meet with someone and set up an appointment, but not before having the chance to speak with the person first. I am going to be careful about writing too much on here that will reveal who this person is as I did not ask if he/she was willing to have what he/she said repeated beyond my final report. Make sure to ask me to go into more detail as this person was truly inspiring. 

This person explained to me that he/she believed lack of detail to be the fundamental flaw with South African policy. He/She explained that disabilities will often be put into equity bills. A bill might state "There shall be no discrimination based on race, gender, or ability." The problem with this is that it does not provide any conrete guidelines for this to occur. "the current laws have no teeth - just words on paper." 

In addition, he/she spoke about  how people with disabilities need to more educated because a person is not going to hire someone with a disability unless they illustrate having a higher skill set of some sort and how the problem with placing quotas on how many people are employed with disabilities within a company is that people with slight disabilities. I was also given insight into what laws to look into and how the legislative process works. 

This appointment turned out to be extremely helpful. I am so glad I just showed up. Here is the funny thing. I left the meeting with my hands covered in notes so I would not forget what this person said. It was pretty comedic. I wish I had taken a picture. I will meet with this person again on Tuesday, which I am excited for. 

Hope all the dads out there are having a great Father's Day. Expect more updates soon. 

- Feldman