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2008 MANY STORIES ONE VOICE ONLINE COLLECTION
Dan Ngcobo,
Age 24,
Click HERE to download
the full story in Microsoft Word format.
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My name is Dan Ngcobo
and this photo of me and my niece
was taken at my home in KwaNgcolosi where
I live with my parents and my brother and his
family. In
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FRIENDS
by Dan Ngcobo
One sunny morning John was just sitting outside then his friend Mike came to
visit him. "Hey John! How's it?" John just looked at him and nodded his
head. "Bro don't tell me you've just got up?" John replied "Okay, Mike I
have just got up. Now let me
just sit. Actually, you know what? Come lets go and sit next to the road."
Off they went. Mike had something to sit on and John was in his motorized
wheelchair. "So tell me my friend, how you're really doing?" Mike asked.
John just took a breath and said,
"I'm alive so that means I'm fine." The two boys laughed. "Oh man! John!
Look at that!" John turned his head and looked. Mike smiled and while he was
going up to this good looking girl, he said to John, "Watch and learn my
boy.”
When he came back he had a big grin on his face. "Man, Oh man! Am I good or
what?" John looked at him and asked, "What is her name?" "Umm wait let me
check my phone." "She gave you her phone number?"
"Oh! John, what are you asking? What
is my name? Oh it is Sindi. Actually, let me call her." When John looked at
Mike the big grin was gone. "What’s wrong?" John asked.
Mike looked at John with a
disappointed face. "Well it says the number you have dialed ..." John just
looked at him and just burst out laughing, “anyway she wasn't that hot." "Oh
please Mike! She was hot." Mike looked at John and asked, "Did you want to
speak to her?" John just looked down and said, "No man." "Tell me John, What
is the hardest for you about your disability?" "Well yes, I can’t walk and I
can't use my hands very well but man to talk like this. It’s really hard."
John grinned, "You know to get a phone call and hear someone asking if you
are drunk." "What?" Asked Mike with a perplexed expression on his face. "Yarh!
If someone calls a wrong number and it comes to me, Yarh I get told that I'm
drunk." "You get told.... you are drunk?. Wow! I don't know how I would
handle that." "Believe me, you do learn. I mean I remember trying to call my
grandma, I dialed a wrong number and a lady picked up. When she heard the
way I'm speaking, she just laughed and told me that I was drunk." "Did you
tell her that you are disabled?" "Yarh! I did" "And?" "And she said
disabled, and laughed." "Wow I actually can’t believe that. How did you
feel?" "Man I felt the tears coming down." "Well now you've got this ABC."
John laughed and said, "It not ABC, its AAC."
"Does it help you?" "Yarh, I mean look at how I can stand in front of people
and tell them about disability. Imagine if I did that without my laptop?"
Mike smiled and said, "Yarh I can just imagine, everyone will be like. Well
I was with him up to the first line,
after that I got lost." The two guys laughed.
The Ngubane Family
by Dan Ngcobo
They were a family
of four, Mr. and Mrs. Ngubane and their two children, Paul and Sammy. Paul
is six years old and his sister is twenty and in grade ten. One evening
while they were watching T.V. Paul asked his father when he was going to
start going to school. His father laughed and shouted, "Wait, wait! Turn
down the T.V! No, no turn it off! My son is talking.” He continued “Now Paul
you were saying?"
Paul, thinking that
his father was so happy to hear that question, asked again, "When am I
starting school?" The parents looked at each other and just burst out
laughing. His father told Paul to ask again and when he did, they laughed
even more but Sammy didn’t laugh. Mrs. Ngubane told Sammy to take her
brother to his room. When Sammy picked up her young brother Paul asked,
"Sammy do you think dad and mom will take me to school tomorrow?" Sammy
looked at him with a long, sad face. "I don't know Paul, I don't know."
Next morning off she
went to school. At school that day they had a motivational speaker. He spoke
about disability and he talked about AAC. When he finished speaking, Sammy
went to him, "Hi, I'm Sammy." I have a six year old brother and he is also
disabled. He can't walk and he speaks like you do but I don't think he
realises how he sounds”. Sipho, the
motivational speaker said "Well at six years, I also thought that I spoke
like everyone else. So, I think just give him time." "Okay, but my parents
don’t believe he can go to school”. Sipho replied “Have you asked them about
school for Paul? Maybe you must ask first to see what they will say."
When she got home
Sammy screamed, "Mom! Dad!" "What!" they both shouted back. "Don't tell us
that you're getting married now, we had enough jokes last night from your
brother for this week." Sammy said "Please listen, today I met a disabled
guy who came to give a presentation." "Hang on, hang on didn't you say he
was disabled?" "Yes mom, I did." Mr. and Mrs. Ngubani just burst out
laughing, "A disabled person giving a presentation? Please!" "Mom, dad, I'm
not making this up and he speaks like Paul." Sammy's dad looked at her. "So
your school got someone that can’t speak clearly to come to speak to you?"
"Yes dad only he didn't use his voice. He had a laptop and the laptop spoke
for him." Incredulously Sammy’s dad asked "So you are telling us that you
saw a talking laptop?" "Yes I did and I got the guy’s number." “Well, call
him and ask him to visit."
Two days later
Sipho came to visit. He showed them the laptop and they were very impressed.
Sipho told them that the most
important thing they could do for their son was to take him to school. He
also told them about Interface and that they would help Paul to communicate
using AAC. So they did just as Sipho
had said and fifteen years later
Paul is doing what Sipho did, teaching
people about AAC.
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