News Flash!

National Epilepsy Week 2010: 21 to 27 June "Sharing Epilepsy"

National Epilepsy Week is the annual awareness raising campaign of Epilepsy South Africa. The aim of this week is to draw the South African public's attention to the condition of epilepsy. The 21^st of June is National Epilepsy Day. Epilepsy South Africa celebrates this day and week as at least 1% of the South African population that has epilepsy.

The theme for National Epilepsy Week 2010 is "Sharing Epilepsy". The aim of this campaign is to educate the general public of the human rights of those with epilepsy. This will assist in dispelling the myths and social stigma associated with epilepsy.

By sharing epilepsy, you need to know that it is not contagious. People with epilepsy however still get ostracized, stigmatized and struggle to find employment. The biggest challenge for people with epilepsy is social stigma which is prevalent because of the misunderstanding of what the condition entails.
By sharing epilepsy, it will become a condition that is easily recognised and treated by general health services.
By sharing epilepsy, we fight the negative attitudes towards the condition and people with epilepsy
By sharing epilepsy, we shed a positive light on the benefit of good seizure management and improve the quality of life for people with epilepsy whom often choose to withdraw socially to cope with discrimination and stigma.
By sharing epilepsy, we make the nation aware that they can develop epilepsy at any stage of their life.
By sharing epilepsy, we make each person aware that their positive attitude and willingness to learn about epilepsy will have a tremendous positive impact for many individuals with epilepsy in South Africa

What is epilepsy? It is...

A physical condition which is characterised by unusual electrical activity in the brain.
The tendency to have recurrent, unprovoked seizures which is caused by a temporary change in the way the brain cells work.
A disorder; not a disease, illness or psychiatric disorder nor mental illness - epilepsy is not contagious.
A condition that affects people of all ages and levels of intelligence and from all social backgrounds.
It is one of the most common and serious neurological conditions and it affects at least one in every 100 people in South Africa.
There are several types of epilepsy which are generally divided into two main categories; namely generalised seizures and partial seizures.

o Generalised seizures occur when the excessive electrical activity in the brain encompasses the entire organ, during which there may be loss of consciousness. There are several seizure types in this generalized category.

o Partial seizures occur when the excessive electrical activity is limited to one area in the brain, which causes either simple partial seizures or complex partial seizures.

"Share Epilepsy" by supporting our SMS Campaign this week. To receive inspirational and educational text messages for free send your name and "SHARING EPILEPSY" to 400012011002. Normal SMS rates apply and there are no costs for receiving our messages. You are welcome to unsubscribe from this service at any time. You can also subscribe via email by sending your cell phone number to marketing.no@epilepsy.org.za

Contact 0860 374537 (0860EPILEPSY) for more information about epilepsy or Epilepsy South Africa.

Email: socdev.no@epilepsy.org.za

Website: www.epilepsy.org.za

Women's Entrepreneurship Development (WED)Capacity Building Training Seminar

Epilepsy South Africa will be hosting a five day capacity building seminar for organisations offering services women entrepreneurs.

Who should attend: Disability organisations wishing to offer business development services to women entrepreneurs, women entrepreneur's associations and women's organisations wishing to offer services to women entrepreneurs with disabilities.
Date: 16-20 August 2010, closing date for registration is 20 June
Place: Epilepsy South Africa National Office, Parow, Cape Town
Availability: Opportunity for 16 delegates (Available through funding received from the ILO)
Cost: Training will be provided free of charge, inclusive of a training manual, tea/coffee and lunch. Delegates must fund their own transport and accommodation (should this be required).
RSVP/Info: Marina Clarke at economicdev.no@epilepsy.org.za

Facilitated by

Marina Clarke, Deputy National Director of Epilepsy South Africa who has 20 years experience in the disability sector and 13 years providing services to the SMME sector. Marina is an ILO accredited SIYB Master trainer and completed WED training provided by the ILO

Programme Overview

This Women's Entrepreneurship Development Capacity Building Seminar presents training based on work conducted by the ILO with the financial support of Development Cooperation Ireland (DCI). The work is directed by the Women's Entrepreneurship Development and Gender Equality (WEDGE) team.

Training will focus on aspects addressing the needs of real capacity building. It has been designed to take account of the expressed needs of women entrepreneurs, their associations, and the support organisations that serve them.

Training modules

Module 1 - Gender and enterprise

Module 2 - Markets and market access

Module 3 - Business Development Services for WED

Module 4 - Enabling environment for WED

Module 5 - Building associations and strategic alliances

Module 6 - Gender issues in finance

Module 7 - Assessing impact

Module 8 - Action planning

ONE OF THE FOLLOWING SUPPLEMENTARY SESSIONS WILL BE SELECTED BASED ON THE NEEDS OF DELEGATES:

HIV/Aids and women entrepreneurs
Women refugees and entrepreneurship
Women entrepreneurship and trafficking
Entrepreneurship development for women with disabilities

Positions at Epilepsy South Africa

Please follow the link to download documentation on any positions available at

Epilepsy South Africa

WOMEN'S ENTREPRENEURSHIP DEVELOPMENT (WED) CAPACITY BUILDING

By Marina Clarke

A WED Capacity Building Seminar was hosted in Pretoria from 24 to 27 May 2010 by the Women's Entrepreneurship Development and Gender Equality (WEDGE) project of the International Labour Organisation (ILO). The seminar was attended by people involved in promoting entrepreneurship and WED from organisations in South Africa and Lesotho, including BDS Providers; SME support institutions; government, business and women entrepreneur support units; employers' and workers' organisations; women entrepreneur associations and disabled persons' organizations (DPOs); micro-finance and other financing institutions targeting women entrepreneurs.

The overall objective of the project is to create an enabling national environment for the promotion of women's entrepreneurship development and gender equality to support poverty reduction and job creation initiatives in South Africa.

The project is funded by the Norwegian Government and aims to strengthen the national institutional capacity of the Government of South Africa; to redress existing gender imbalances in enterprise development. This is done through approaches and activities aimed specifically at women and small enterprise initiatives that are gender sensitive.

The overall objective of the WED guide is to promote the full participation of women in entrepreneurship and economic development, and facilitate the creation of new and better jobs by women entrepreneurs. It seeks to build institutional capacity in WED, particularly in developing countries. It has a strong focus on business creation, formalization and expansion. The content includes the following topics:

ILO's approaches for supporting women entrepreneurs, including basic principles on gender equality in SMME development and WED;
A framework for offering effective business development services to promote women's entrepreneurship;
The role of lobbying and networking in promoting women's entrepreneurship;
Various tools and instruments for promoting WED;
Assessing the needs, challenges and gender-related issues of growth-oriented women entrepreneurs choosing to expand their business operations

Epilepsy South Africa will be rolling out the WED Capacity Building by hosting a training of trainers seminar in Cape Town from 16 to 20 August 2010. This event will form the cornerstone of our Women's Month celebrations.

Look for roll-out of the WED Capacity Building programme in your area. For more information contact Carmen Armstrong, National Project Coordinator, WEDGE South Africa on (012) 818-8000 or armstrong@ilo.org or Marina Clarke on (021) 595-4900 or economicdev.no@epilepsy.org.za.

EPILEPSY WITHOUT WORDS

Capture the feeling of epilepsy with a click!

PHOTOGRAPHY COMPETITION runs from 15 May 2010 - 1 March 2011

Visit http://www.ibe-epilepsy.org/ or email

ibedublin@eircom.net for more details International Bureau for Epilepsy

Click to download page for more information

LOC 'insensitive' to disabled

By Hlengiwe Mnguni, News24 2010-05-28 22:54 Cape Town - Two months after the South African Disability Alliance's members (Sada) burnt wheelchair tyres near the headquarters of the World Cup local organising committee (LOC) they remain dissatisfied.

Sada is still unhappy with the number of tickets made available to people with disability and the readiness of facilities for them. "To date we still do not have the appropriate facilities. We are in an absolute state about it," Ari Seirlis told News24 adding that the treatment people with disabilities had received from World Cup organisers was "insensitive".

According to him, most of the World Cup stadiums do not comply fully with construction regulations in relation to people with disabilities. "It's not just about ramps. You can have the ramps there. But is there two-way traffic?" he said. He said although a person with a disability would probably "survive" using the toilets at the stadiums, the toilets did not meet regulation standards. The lift at the Moses Mabhida Stadium left people with disabilities no room to manoeuvre once inside.

Seat allocation: Seirlis said another of the alliance's frustrations was that people with disabilities had been "shorted" on their tickets. "They tell us there is no demand, but there is. We just can't buy these tickets," he said. He pointed out that it was impossible for people with disabilities to buy tickets, as not only were online sales closed, but FIFA ticketing centres did not have tickets for people with disabilities and a dedicated hotline was not working.

"I've got six pages of people who want to buy those tickets," he said. According to FIFA regulations, at least 0.5% of all stadium seats must be allocated to people with disabilities. Only 88 seats at the 70 000 capacity Moses Mabhida stadium in KwaZulu-Natal have been allocated for people with disabilities, he said. "Where's our other 280 places?" a frustrated Seirlis said who said the treatment people with disabilities was getting was "insensitive".

Speaking to News24 on Friday, Parliament's sports portfolio chairperson Butana Khompela maintained that there had not been enough interest in ticket sales to warrant more seat allocation. Khompela was present at a portfolio meeting in Parliament where consultant Phillip Thompson presented findings of inspections carried out in all nine World Cup stadia.

Volunteers untrained: In a Sapa report on Friday, Thompson, who was appointed by the tournament organisers, was quoted as saying hand rails at the Port Elizabeth Stadium had the potential to "mortally" injure people as they were sharp at the edges.

Khompela said that the railings were removed and had been replaced. He had seen this himself on a recent "unannounced visit" following the meeting. Seirlis said the community of people with disabilities was yet to be advised about transport plans. He said he found it shocking that FIFA volunteers had not been properly trained to deal with people with disabilities even though this was part of a memorandum of understanding signed in December 2009. "They said they forgot about it," said Seirlis. According to him the volunteers were giving reading material "two weeks ago.

"That's not training." The LOC was not immediately available for comment.

Seirlis warned that this could lead to human rights abuse complaints from people with disabilities from around the world as the volunteers were not properly trained. He said he realised the alliance was running out of time with only two weeks left before the World Cup kicks off.

"We're not just fighting for the World Cup. It's about what's left behind." He said it was unacceptable for newly constructed stadiums to be non-compliant with building regulations and that it could possibly be difficult to bring about change when the World Cup was over. "If we are left behind in this World Cup, we'll be left behind forever."

"Changing obstacles into true potential!" Epilepsy South Africa |