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FIGURE5.4 . DISABILITYGRANT HISTORY
EIRespondents
Receiving
DisabBity Grants
EIRespondents not 56%
Receiving
Disabllity Grants
Figure 5.4 reveals that (14) 56% amputees were not getting disability grants as compared
to only (lI) 44% amputees who were getting disability grants. This shows that the
majority of the respondents were not receiving the disability grant. The amputees who
received the disability grant were assisted by the social workers who are part of the
rehabilitation team. The amputees who were not receiving a disability grant had applied
for the grant and were still awaiting for the response, which also takes very long. This
statement is supported by Couper (1999:20), in that some people wait for years from the
time ofapplication before receiving a disability grant.
VOCAnONAL REHABILITAnON
This item was included to establish the baseline data for vocational training by
identifying amputees who were working before injury and amputation as wen as the type
ofwork they were doing before amputation. Vocational training prepares the amputees to
be gainfully employed either in sheltered employment or open labour market or return to
the work that they were doing before injury. This helps the amputees to add to the
disability grant that they are getting, which is very little. It also helps the amputees to
survive and enables breadwinners to support their families while still waiting for a
disability grant Mets and Wilson (1990) stress that the main aim of their rehabilitation
centre in Cape Town is to prepare physically disabled persons for suitable employment in
the open labour market. by training and educating them in the work place that resembles
the realistic worksituation as much as possible.
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