“Discover how VUT’s Mr Sandile Moya champions disability rights, inclusion, and accessibility through advocacy, leadership, and lived experience during Disability Awareness Month.”
24 November 2025 | Story by: Nontobeko Moimane | Picture:
5 minutes read time.
Each year, Disability Rights Awareness Month invites the Vaal University of Technology (VUT) community to pause, reflect, and recommit to creating a space where every person, regardless of ability, can learn, work, and flourish with dignity. Yet for some, this commitment is not confined to a month. It is a daily, lived practice rooted in personal experience and unwavering conviction.
One such individual is Mr Sandile Moya, a devoted disability advocate whose leadership, voice, and compassion continue to shape the university’s path towards genuine inclusion.
Born in Vryheid and raised in Nongoma, KwaZulu-Natal, Mr Moya now serves as an administrator in Student Accommodation and Catering under Student Support Services. Beyond his professional duties, he holds two significant leadership roles: he represents the disability constituency on the Institutional Forum at council level, and he is the newly elected Secretary of the University Disability Forum. These dual responsibilities place him at the centre of conversations that influence accessibility, transformation, and inclusive practice across VUT.
A month of awareness, and a call to action
For Mr Moya, Disability Rights Awareness Month is more than a calendar observance. It is a powerful reminder of the ongoing fight for equal access, equal protection, and equal opportunity.
“We should raise our flag against all odds,” he reflects. “This time must remind us of the continuing struggle for equal rights. The struggle is never won quickly; this month should inspire and encourage us to keep pushing.”
He sees this period as a vital opportunity for staff and students to deepen their understanding, challenge stereotypes, and recognise what meaningful inclusion looks like in practical terms. Without awareness and education, he believes, real transformation remains out of reach.
A voice for those who need it most
Although his official role centres on administration, Mr Moya’s heart is firmly in advocacy. He works closely with the Disability Unit, especially during first-year registration, to support students with disabilities through applications, transitions, and bursary opportunities.
His commitment is shaped by lived experience. As a former VUT student living with a disability, he remembers moments when he chose to advocate for himself rather than rely on assistance from student leaders who did not fully understand his needs. Those formative experiences strengthened his resolve and gave rise to the leader he is today.
One of his most memorable contributions came during the COVID 19 pandemic, when he accompanied a group of VUT students with disabilities to a company interested in recruiting them. “Today, those students are employed at that very same company,” he shares with pride. “I would not have been able to help them climb that step if I had not learned leadership while serving in the Disability Club we formed during our student days.”
For him, the purpose is clear: “Nothing puts a smile on my face like seeing people living with disability progressing in life.”
He believes that accessibility is not a favour extended to a small group but a right that belongs to all. His hope is to see a VUT where staff and students with disabilities are represented at every level and where their needs are proactively integrated into planning, decision-making, and campus life.
A persistent misconception, he notes, is the belief that physical limitations reflect intellectual or professional limitations. “We are judged by our physical appearance and not our brains,” he says. “Line managers should not close promotion or growth doors based on disability.” He advocates for a shift in thinking: people living with disabilities are full and capable participants in both academic and professional spaces, deserving of opportunity, respect, and recognition.
Progress made, and the work still ahead
VUT has recorded meaningful improvements in recent years. These include:
• Inclusive adjustments within the library • Improved residence facilities, including accessible ablutions and disability friendly room designs
• A planned walkway project linking the campus to the residences • A proposal for a modified vehicle to support students and staff living with disabilities
However, Mr Moya believes more must still be done:
• Additional academic buildings require accessible entrances • More lifts should be installed • Line managers and lecturers need disability inclusion training • Staff living with disabilities should receive support to attend conferences, training, and academic programmes
For him, the vision must be long term, sustained, and rooted in genuine institutional commitment.
Carrying the movement forward
As Secretary of the Disability Forum, Mr Moya focuses daily on raising concerns, championing inclusion, and ensuring that voices often marginalised are heard in policy discussions and institutional decision making.
His appeal to the wider VUT community is simple yet profound: “VUT must be at the forefront of promoting disability awareness. If we lead the way, our surrounding communities will follow.” He calls for consistent engagement and meaningful initiatives throughout the year, not only during the month of awareness.
Becoming better advocates
Asked how staff and students can support the disability community, he offers a response filled with humanity and conviction: “Embrace, love, appreciate and support people living with disability, and always remember that disability is not inability.”
As VUT marks Disability Rights Awareness Month, Mr Moya’s story stands as both an inspiration and a challenge to listen, to learn, to understand, and to include. His journey reminds us that transformation is not an event but a movement, carried forward by individuals who choose courage over silence.
In his quiet, determined way, Mr Moya encourages the university to keep lifting the human spirit and to continue building a VUT where every person, regardless of ability, can experience belonging, dignity, and opportunity