Unaccommodated, not unable: disability inclusion pageant challenges employment barriers

At the close of Disability Pride Month on 31 July, Afrika Tikkun hosted the second annual Beauty in Ability pageant under the theme "Crowned in Ability". The event challenged the structural barriers that keep young people with intellectual disabilities out of formal employment.

A structural barrier, not a talent gap

Young people with intellectual disabilities continue to face one of the greatest barriers to employment, not because they lack ability, but because the systems designed to recruit, assess and support talent were never built with them in mind.

South Africa's Commission for Employment Equity reported this year that employees with disabilities make up just 1.3% of the workforce in organisations with 50 or more employees, despite the Employment Equity Regulations setting a five-year target of 3%. Yet even those figures don't tell the full story. People with intellectual and learning disabilities remain among the least represented in formal employment, often excluded before they are given the opportunity to demonstrate what they can do.

Beauty in Ability 2026: "Crowned in Ability"

At the close of Disability Pride Month on 31 July, Afrika Tikkun hosted the second annual Beauty in Ability pageant under this year's theme, "Crowned in Ability." The event celebrated confidence, leadership and self-expression, but more importantly, it challenged the assumptions that continue to limit opportunity.

As Lana Leas Roy, Afrika Tikkun's Head of Disability and Inclusion, says:

"This isn't a talent problem. It's a structural one."

How recruitment shuts young people out

Too often, recruitment processes are designed around one way of learning, communicating and demonstrating capability. Standardised assessments, qualification requirements and inaccessible hiring practices prevent talented young people from showing what they can do.

Lana puts it simply:

"These young people are not unable. They are unaccommodated. The moment you change the environment, the assessment and the expectation, you find capability that was always there."

Afrika Tikkun's Disability Inclusion Programme

That belief sits at the heart of Afrika Tikkun's Disability Inclusion Programme, which prepares young people for employment while working alongside businesses to create more inclusive recruitment practices.

For Disability Project Manager Latchean Mhlanga, the challenge is clear.

"It's not because there are no jobs. Our recruitment systems are not accommodating. They are turned away not because they don't have the skills, but because they are not given the opportunity to show the skills that they have."

See the able, not the label

Beauty in Ability isn't about crowns.
It's about challenging perceptions.
It's about creating visibility for young people whose potential is too often overlooked.
It's about reminding Corporate South Africa that disability inclusion is not achieved through good intentions alone. It requires workplaces that are willing to rethink how they recruit, assess and support talent.

Our message has always been See the Able, Not the Label.

This year's theme, "Crowned in Ability," reminds us that ability has always been there.

The question is whether our workplaces are willing to see it.

What changes do you believe Corporate South Africa still needs to make to ensure young people with intellectual disabilities have equal access to meaningful employment?