Documentary highlights albinism and education challenges

A chance encounter on a train has seen a Disability Unit staff member being featured in a documentary focusing on the challenges of people with albinism.

Education and Albinism was produced by the Human Rights Media Centre and attempts to shed light on the realities of living with albinism through the experiences of four individuals.

Dellicia De Vos is a familiar face at CPUT’s Cape Town campus where she works as an Administrator in the Disability Unit. For years De Vos has been helping students with disabilities acclimatise to university life and introducing them to the adaptive study aids like magnifiers and recorders which will assist their studies.

De Vos was on a train one Saturday in 2016 when a women approached her about participating in a documentary on Albinism and the associated challenges.

“I told her that if she had asked me a few years previously I would have removed myself from the situation but over time I have learned to accept myself as I am. As my confidence increased I also felt the need to start being more vocal about the challenges people with Albinism face,” she says.

In the 31 minute documentary De Vos recalls travelling from Namibia to Cape Town as a five year old to attend the Athlone School for the Blind, where she remained for her entire schooling career. The wife and mother of two is now pursuing a Master’s degree in Disability Studies at UCT.

Source: Cape Peninsula University of Technology