Association For The Physically Disabled

Established in 1940, The Association for Persons with Physical Disabilities, Nelson Mandela Bay (APD NMB), is a non-profit organisation located at 55 Paterson Road, Port Elizabeth. The disability sector that we serve includes persons who are physically & intellectually impaired, speech and hearing impaired, partially sighted, or who have cerebral palsy, polio and or epilepsy.

At their premises in Paterson Road, we provide income-generating opportunities to 150 people with disabilities. Their 2 specially adapted busses provide transport for our mobility-impaired workers. More mobile workers receive a subsidy to allow them to use public transport. All workers are provided with a basic daily meal.

Workshops provide income-generating opportunities for persons with disabilities that assist them financially and allow them to attain their maximum level of independence.



Services that APD provide:

Wheelchair-Shop: We sell and hire wheelchairs and assistive devices and distribute free wheelchairs that are supplied by our generous funders. Last year we successfully distributed 500 wheelchairs to worthy recipients.

The Industrial Workshops: We do labour intensive contract work i.e. bulk posting, packaging, and assembling of components, to mention but a few. Typical clients are Marina Sea Salt (labeling spice bottles), NMMU, Spicer Axle, Volpes etc.

Sewing Centre: Here we manufacturer work wear for major companies in and around the city. Some names worth mentioning are Aspen, Dulux, General Motors as well as a host of hospitality establishments. We are proud to advise that we are also producing a range of Woolworths’ slippers in conjunction with the Little Slipper Company in North End.

Screen-printing Department: This newly established department not only compliments the Sewing Workshop by printing corporate names and logos on the work wear that we manufacture but it also supplies printed T-Shirts to a broad base of companies, Britos Bakery being one of the major clients. Earlier this year, this department secured and delivered the national order for 15000 printed golf shirts for the annual Casual Day Campaign.

Upholstery Workshop: We are contracted to maintain all the upholstery work for the entire fleet of 400+ busses of The Algoa Bus Company.

Toilet Paper Manufacturing: We produce a high grade of toilet paper that we sell to many of our corporate clients. We also supply the NMMM Stores who distribute the product to their many offices around the city.

Recruitment Office: We have a fully-fledged Personnel Recruitment office, registered with the Dept of Labour. Our focus is on placing persons with disabilities into permanent positions, in the mainstream market and at all levels. We assist our clients to do a better job of attracting, developing and retaining good human capital. We provide service of excellence in all different sectors and specialize in guidance with recruiting persons with disabilities. Our department also deals with Skills development and training in different fields.

Sensitisation Service: The huge need for people at all levels to understand and accordingly learn how to accommodate persons with disabilities in the workplace is handled by this department. This service has been successfully work-shopped to several corporate and government departments. The most recent being some 200 employees from the Eastern Cape Dept of Justice offices in Mthatha, Queenstown, East London and Port Elizabeth.

Accessibility Surveys: Given our vast knowledge on this matter, we consult with stakeholders in all sectors from architects right down to B&B owners to ensure that the standards that are legislated are upheld.

Social Work Services: Our team of three qualified Social Workers provides individual and family counseling and generic social work services to clients. The main demand for their services is rendered to the disadvantaged communities. Assistance with referrals for grant applications, rehabilitation services, referrals to special schools, assessments for assistive devices (e.g. wheelchairs), are only some of the services we render to our communities.

Parking Disks: We handle all applications for the famous “Wheelchair Parking Disk”. All applicants are carefully screened to ensure that only persons who legitimately require the use of the specially designed, wider parking bays are issued with a permit.