Visually-Impaired woman denied access to Eagleliner Coach

By Sihlobo Bulala

A visually-impaired woman was denied access to an Eagleliner Coach in Harare early last week for not travelling with an assistant, despite being a paying customer and having the ability to navigate her journey.

The incident, which occurred on Monday the 16th of December 2024 when Urndia Ngwenya meant to catch the 10.00 AM bus travelling from Harare to Bulawayo, underscores the ongoing challenges that people with disabilities face; bringing to attention policies that limit their freedom of movement and question the inclusivity of public transport services.

In an interview with Urndia Ngwenya, she highlighted that the experience was frustrating.

“The reason that they gave is that they once had an incident with a person with a disability. When the bus had a minor accident, other people managed to get out of the bus, but the person with the disability didn’t manage because they had no one to assist them to get out of the bus. So, they now fear that when a person with a disability travels alone, who will assist if any accident occurs?” she recalled.

When the denial persisted, she had to opt for the CAG bus, where she accessed it without challenges. However, she describes the experience with the Eagleliner Coach as humiliating and discriminatory, the thought of which still affects her.

“I have been travelling with different luxury coaches and any other buses from Bulawayo to Harare and back. I have never experienced such discrimination. They have to change the way they are handling us people with disabilities cause I was traumatised because they were talking in front of everyone. The rest of the passengers and those who were escorting them were there. I lost my dignity, I was discriminated, and I don’t understand cause I had my own money,” Ngwenya shared, further adding that she knows how to navigate her way embarking or disembarking buses.

“When I get to my destination, I know what to do, I know my way but they denied me the right of my freedom, the right of my independence and they are bringing back the charity model, maybe they are seeing a person with a disability as a burden, I don’t know,” she advised.

Disability Inclusion Activist Tsepang Nare highlighted that there are systemic barriers hindering accessibility of public transportation for persons with disabilities.
“The policy and legal reforms at an institutional level is characterized by policies that are insensitive to the needs and requirements of persons with disabilities who also happen to be the organization’s clientele. Many at times, the policies are segregatory and do not encompass the human rights approach. There is just this desire to push persons with disabilities further into the periphery. If there was a way, persons with disabilities wouldn’t board or even access these public modes of transportations because they are not wanted.”

Signs of Hope Trust Founder Samantha Sibanda shared that apart from having a transport system that is rigid to the needs of persons with disabilities, there are also economic costs to disability that are often not considered.
“We have got charges on transport which are pegged at the same cost for everybody and in the case of someone travelling with an assistant that becomes double the price, meaning that if there are two adults, they will have to pay that price. We have a system that totally ignores the economic cost of disability,” she highlighted.

While the constitution provides for non-discrimination and freedom of movement as provided for in Sections 56(3) “Every person has a right not to be treated in an unfairly discriminatory manner on such grounds as their…,disability,…”, and Sections 66(2) “Every Zimbabwean citizen and everyone who is legally in Zimbabwe has a right to move freely,” various organizations often do not sensitively tailor their products to accommodate the needs of persons with disabilities.

Samantha Sibanda highlighted that there is need for organizations to be cognisant of the fact that every policy should be informed by the community as there is a proliferation of disability policies that do not reflect the needs of its stakeholders.
“We have got these policies that are generated in an office, looking at your own experiences as a company and how you want to protect yourself and not thinking about the public whom you’re serving. Transport providers should have an informed policy, informed by lived realities of persons with disabilities. We need to localise our solutions. Our policies need to suit our own lived realities as a people.”

Tsepang Nare further echoed the sentiments, adding that there is need to deploy a number of data collection tools to gather insights that will help public transport organizations to ensure that their policies are inclusive and respective of persons with disabilities.

“When there is an array of platforms and mechanisms to gather information, it helps in ensuring that policies in place speak to the needs, desires and aspirations of persons with disabilities,” Nare shared, adding that communication, not only in the context of sign language but in the context of using disability appropriate and sensitive language, clarity and precision can ensure inclusion is continuously fostered since people with visual-impairment require communication, which would also include information around safety and mitigatory measures.

Samantha Sibanda called for organizations to move away from a model of disability that looks at persons with disability as charity cases, as they can also contribute more to the development of their community.

“Persons with disability have got a right to belong, and to be independent. Transport goes beyond the mere accessibility of it, it’s our way to contribute to the GDP of the country, it’s our way to be mobile, and to belong to the community. If we have such policies that hinder you from moving around, from interacting with the society, what is the bigger impact? It means persons with disability can’t take part in the economy, they can’t take part in the GDP,” she emphasized.

Tsepang Nare further echoed the sentiments by highlighting that it is important to ensure that the right to accessibility is promoted and observed as well as the right to equality and non-discrimination.

“We all have a role when it comes to creating a future that we want and as we are creating this future you may be a non-disabled person but it may so happen that in that moment in time you would have acquired a disability. What we do now as preparation for the future matters the most, what we do now in an effort to model and shape an ideal society, matters the most.”

“What we do now, we do it for tomorrow so that in the likelihood of changes, one should be able to still continue with their life and be integrated and continue to enjoy rights and fundamental freedoms even when the person is now one with a disability. But when we entrench, promote and advance a segregatory and discriminatory agenda what it means is we are creating a largely exclusive society which will also exclude you in the event of acquiring a disability,” he advised.

Efforts to contact the directors of Eagleliner Coaches for comment were made well in advance, but no response was received by the time of publication.