Dear Portfolio Committee on Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities,

I trust that you are doing well. I currently live in the Gauteng area and volunteer for the South African Guide Dogs Association, where I contribute by raising puppies that will one day be either Guide Dogs, Autism Support Dogs or Service Dogs (Assisting people with mobility impairments). I myself have been diagnosed with Autism and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, and this has made me passionate about advocating for disability rights.

I would like to request that you add the issue of Assistance Dogs to the table and explain how to properly regulate Assistance Dogs. There are many people who simply purchase "service jackets" on Shein / Temu and Takealot and take their dogs into public spaces, making it difficult for people who really use assistance dogs and who train assistance dogs to access public spaces.

I would like to urge you as a committee to create a forum where people with disabilities can report incidents of discrimination and where this will be taken seriously. I want there to be more legal repercussions for discrimination against people with disabilities because we live in a society that simply ignores the most vulnerable. Please create some sort of certification for Assistance dogs and a forum where discrimination is adequately addressed.

I would like to go as far as requesting that you as a committee start with simple things, and that is by engaging with the minister of police in effectively policing disability parking. I have a friend who requires a wheelchair, and it is very common to find people parked in disabled bays because there are no real consequences.

I know that I am not the first nor the last to complain and seek action, but I want to be a voice for change. I would like to ask you today to assist in making the lives of people with disabilities easier. I would like to ask that you shift some focus to the accommodations and accessibility of people with disabilities.

I thank you for your time.

Kind regards
Lucas Moolman
Centurion, Gauteng