People with disabilities play a crucial role in advocating for and designing adaptive tools and technologies that make farming more inclusive. Examples include wheelchair-accessible farm equipment, voice-activated devices, and specialized tractors, which help individuals with mobility impairments carry out tasks that may otherwise be challenging.
Matebogo Victoria from Randfontein, Gauteng, is an inspiring individual who hasn’t let her disability hold her back. She began working the land with the goal of serving the deaf community and setting an example for others.
Farming deaf in a hearing world
“Being deaf in a hearing world was never easy, but in the world of agriculture, it felt like trying to navigate a field in the dead of night. Communication is everything, negotiating with suppliers, attending farmer’s markets, and even just chatting with neighbouring farmers.
“My world was often silent, filled with misunderstandings and dismissed ideas. I started a company called VoiceOut Deaf with the aim of servicing the deaf community. Compared to people with normal hearing, deaf populations face notable challenges in finding jobs,” she said.
Victoria said The VoiceOut Deaf Farming business was registered in 2017 as a private company, however, the business has been operating since 2016.
“VoiceOut Deaf has chosen five plant species that have significant market demand as well being well suited for growth in the market: tomatoes, green pepper, red pepper and yellow pepper.
“VoiceOut Deaf Company hires most deaf community in the West Rand Region. The company currently supports women, youth and persons with disability employees,” she explained.
Related stories
- Disabled farmers: ‘We want action and access, not handouts’
- Not even disability can keep Dolly from farming
- Toutele drives disability-inclusive agri education
Victoria said empowerment for her is critically important as she realised that the deaf community lacks basic business fundamentals. That was one of the reasons she started a deaf business development project through vegetable farming to expose the deaf to the business world instead of depending on handouts.
Challenges for the deaf community
“To get to where the business is now, I had to find a way to study further and learn more about agriculture. And it was a nightmare of trying to make sense of new agricultural terms and technology. I faced challenges like business practices that reduced access for the deaf community.
“Lack of standards related to the quality of interpreting required across a variety of settings, including educational, community, medical, and legal settings. Lack of education about how to use deaf services effectively, online training with bad network especially during Covid-19,” she said.
According to Victoria, their research findings have shown that the academic achievement of deaf and hard of hearing is lower than that of hearing communities.
“My advice to any person, disabled or not, your disability only puts you on the doorstep. Every rule in business applies. One still needs to comply and understand and have knowledge of what they are doing like another industry. The biggest mistake most of the people are doing is asking for resources first instead of knowledge.
“I had to learn the hard way losing crops. I started planting without knowledge, and this is a bad way to start any business. I will encourage anyone to seek knowledge of what they want to do before starting anything, whether it is business or seeking employment,” she said.
However, Victoria said the government needs to work a little bit harder to ensure that people with disability are catered for in the agricultural sector. “What is really needed is promoting research, this can help identify, promote, and share good practice models.
“Remember that farms are not friendly for persons with disability. Most agriculture tools are not friendly to handle, they are too heavy at times. Research will be the best point to start at. This includes digital skills training,” she said.
READ NEXT: Millions lost, 65 jobless as NC poultry cooperative shuts down
Sign up for Mzansi Today: Your daily take on the news and happenings from the agriculture value chain
