Friday 26 August 2016

5 Fun DIY Clothing Hacks (For Better Accessibility)




We all know that with the ever-evolving fashion landscape, looking your best can be a pain. As clothing seems to get fiddlier, fussier and more frustrating, it’s easy to become more and more disenchanted with the sartorial world - particularly if you have a limited range of mobility to deal with.


We’ve found some ways to ease your daily dressing - here’s our collection of inexpensive and easy DIY projects, tricks and hacks.

  1. Grip a tricky zip - and add some custom flair!

     


Slip a pendant or charm onto the hole of your zipper with a keyring.

Not only is this quick method great for making a larger zipper pull, but you can give any drab jacket a cute feature, too!


  1. Pull up pants easily


Make high-waisted pants (or even hipster pants) easy to put on by attaching fabric loops to the inside of the waistband.

If you’re not good at sewing, fabric glue is an easy alternative.

  1. Create glittens - convertable gloves



Unusual and functional (and less uncool than zip-off pants!), these are great for winter days when you have to access your phone, but taking off and putting gloves back on is a hassle.

You can customize an existing pair of gloves (just cut the fingers off), or you can make these from scratch with this pattern.


  1. Never struggle with buttons again…



Stick velcro behind your buttons! Even if you don’t struggle with tiny shirt buttons, getting them all even on the first go is still not always easy.

You can use felt instead of the soft part of the velcro for less bulk.

  1. ...Or with laces!



Use an elasticated cord to lace your shoes, and never have to deal with tying and untying and knots and bows and all that trouble.

Now you have perfectly chic slip-on sneakers!


Will you be trying these out? Let us know how it goes!


Art by Jessica


Tuesday 9 August 2016

4 Incredible Female Disability and Gender Equality Activists from Africa

Every year on August 9th, South Africa honours women: we celebrate the everyday women, the  mothers, the daughters, the career-women, the caregivers, the teachers - all women, who are all bettering the country every day.


This year, Epic is especially inspired by women with disabilities throughout Africa: 4 powerful women who are achieving truly great things for women, with and without disabilities. Here are their stories:


  1. Shelley Barry

Shelley was travelling with a friend in 1996 on on one of the minibus taxis widely used by millions of commuters around South Africa. In a rare turn of bad luck, a gunfight broke out between two rival taxi groups, and a bullet struck Shelley, rendering her paralyzed ever since (her friend had survived the taxi violence, too).

Now a wheelchair user, Shelley has forged a successful career in media, simultaneously making a name as a unique visionary and as a voice for people with disabilities (her films are often shot from the perspective of a wheelchair user). Among other achievements, she was a driving force behind the HIV/AIDS awareness campaigns aired on local television station eTV, has addressed the United Nations in New York City, is an anti-gun lobbyist, and has won many many international awards for her films. She has also written plays about the oppression of women (“Insignificant Others” and “En Route to Bury Sara Baartman”).

As if all that wasn’t enough, she’s also worked as the Media Manager in the Office on the Status of Disabled Persons in the Presidency in South Africa, and as the National Parliamentary Policy Co-Ordinator for Disabled People South Africa during Nelson Mandela’s presidency.

She also has founded Two Spinning Wheels Productions and is a lecturer in film studies at the University of the Western Cape. Shelley is proof of art’s role in creating and inspiring social change, and just how important art is in a society.
You can see some of her work on her YouTube channel.

  1. Gertrude Oforiwa Fefoame

    http://s160131.gridserver.com/wp-content/uploads/gertrude-oforiwa-fefoame.jpg
    www.cehjournal.org

Ghanaian gender and disability activist Gertrude Oforiwa Fefoame lost her eyesight as a child, and knows first-hand about the struggles facing women with disabilities in a developing country. She studied to become a special education teacher and also hold an executive master’s degree in governance and leadership.

She currently works as a Global Advocacy Advisor for Sightsavers, an international NGO working in developing countries to treat avoidable blindness, and also as Vice Chairperson for ICEVI Africa.
Gertrude recognizes the intersections of the different identities she speaks for and is a part of: being a woman with a disability in a developing African country comes with its own unique set of challenges, and Gertrude’s work is not unrecognized: the Ghanaian government’s Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection nominated Gertrude for a position on the UN’s Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Her work goes to show that anybody, born anywhere under any circumstances, has the potential to shape their world.

  1. Yetnebersh Nigussie


http://www.yegara.com/am/sites/default/files/styles/facebook_size/public/12240087_1484549341854765_4029046066471709399_n.jpg?itok=iK1GkyDI
www.yegara.com
Yetnebersh Nigussie was only five years old and living in the rural Amhara Saint Wollo when she lost her eyesight. She considers this her blessing: able-bodied young girls are often subjected to early marriages. She was afforded an opportunity to attend a boarding school for the blind and then the opportunity to attend high school, something which less than 20% of teenagers have access to in her region.


She’s put her education to more-than-good use: during her schooling, she chaired at least 6 students’ clubs at her high school, and founded the Addis Ababa University Female Students Association and chaired the university’s Anti-AIDS movement in the mid-2000’s.

Now an attorney, she’s volunteered for over 20 organizations, which led to her local organization Ethiopian Centre for Disability and Development. The organization works with other notable Ethiopians to include and empower people with disabilities in development programmes.

This is particularly difficult in Ethiopia: Yetnebersh has said in 2014 “In Ethiopia, I’m not sure if you are aware, we have a new law that was passed three years ago, and that law requires organizations receiving funds from abroad not to engage in disability rights and awareness.”

Despite the obstacles, Yetnebersh has achieved a lot for her country. One of those that she’s most proud of is helping to ensure that all new buildings are required by law to be accessible to people with disabilities. She’s also opened up the Yetnebersh Academy, a school for underprivileged children. She says, “I think the more challenges we have, the more innovative minds there will be to tackle them better. I believe that one day we will have a world for all.


  1. Chaeli Mycroft

    http://www.kidsrights.org/portals/1/IMG_9753.jpg?ver=2016-01-08-143021-307
    www.kidsrights.org
Michaela “Chaeli” Mycroft has been a force for disability causes since she was nine. The South African young activist was born with cerebral palsy, and her upward trajectory along the path of disability rights started when she and her sisters and their friends successfully raised over R20,000 (~$2,400) for a motorized wheelchair, which Chaeli had needed. This success, achieved by selling cards and flower pots, inspired Chaeli to found The Chaeli Campaign.
The Chaeli Campaign has since employed twenty people, and has won then-17-year-old Chaeli the 2011 International Children’s Peace Prize - the junior version of the Nobel Peace Prize. She was also the youngest finalist of the Shoprite Checkers / SABC 2 Woman of the Year Award - when she was ten - and in 2012 received a medal for Social Activism at the Nobel Laureate Peace Summit.

The Chaeli Campaign helps over 3000 children every year, providing much needed equipment and resources to children with disabilities in South Africa - from wheelchairs to food supplements. They also run weekly workshops which teach young adults craft skills and entrepreneurship skills: they make Sebezaphones and bean bags, and are paid for their craft.

Chaeli has said “We are all different and we all have the need to be accepted, regardless of having a disability or not.”.

We hope you enjoy this year’s Women’s Day! Never forget your power.


Sources: 
http://www.iamwomanseries.com/our-stories/season-2-all-episodes/episode-17-shelley-barry/
http://streettalktv.com/teammember/shelley-barry/
http://www.africanfilmny.org/2013/shelley-barry/
http://www.zoominfo.com/s/#!search/profile/person?personId=213743200&targetid=profile
https://twospinningwheels.wordpress.com/directors-bio/
http://www.mediaclubsouthafrica.com/land-and-people/2683-disability
http://chaelicampaign.co.za/
http://www.africanchildforum.org/site/_archived/index.php/disabilitysymposium/295-ms-gertrude-oforiwa-fefoame.html
http://www.graphic.com.gh/news/general-news/manifestation-of-gender-inequality-no-woman-elected-onto-un-committee.html
http://www.wickedlocal.com/x1465131669/Fenn-students-raise-money-for-children-in-Ghana 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yetnebersh_Nigussie
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2016/jun/22/10-activists-changing-lives-disabled-people-around-world
http://www.tadias.com/06/17/2014/yetnebersh-nigussie-advocates-for-inclusion-for-people-with-disabilities-in-ethiopia/
http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---africa/documents/publication/wcms_237420.pdf

Monday 1 August 2016

African Folklore Collection: Volume 1

Every Thursday, Epic likes to discover and share ancient African tales: of animals, magical beings and fantastic happenings.
The lush, diverse African continent is full of these tales and they deserve to be preserved - so we've collected all of the ones we've posted onto our social media channels so far, with more to follow.

Here's the first volume, first posted in June 2016:

The Elephant's Trunk


The elephant used to have a small snout, which he liked, but it made feeding uncomfortable as he'd often have to use his knees. One day, while drinking water at the river, he caught the attention of a crocodile, who decided that the elephant looked very tasty. He sneaked towards the elephant beneath the water, lunged forward and grabbed the elephant's snout. Luckily, the elephant was too strong for the crocodile to pull him beneath the water, and he stood his ground. The crocodile was relentless and only after an hours-long tug of war did he give up - leaving the poor elephant with a stretched-out nose.

The Ostrich and the Jealous Lions


There's an old Bushmen tale of some proud male lions who were jealous of the ostriches, for all the lionesses admired the ostriches' voice. The lions were belittled by their women, who said they spoke as if they had their tails in their mouths.
The lions thus conspired to tear at the ostriches' chests and rip out their lungs, in the hopes that eating the lungs would grant them a voice as deep and as full as the lionesses liked. 
Today, the lions all love to show off their famous roars.

Mermaids of the Karoo


Rumours and legends about mermaids and merfolk have been swirling around Southern Africa for millennia. In the Klein Karoo, the home of the ancient Khoisan people, are rock paintings of mermaids - perhaps strange for a rather dry part of South Africa, until you remember that 250 million years ago, the Klein Karoo used to be an ocean! Still, more recently, are local claims of mermaids combing their hair by little rock pools.

You can find more stories by exploring the African Folklore tag, and you can stay up to date by following us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook - look out for the #FolkloreThursday hashtag!