Jeremy Opperman & Assoc
Achieving a natural and unhesitant inclusion of people with disabilities into mainstream society

Jeremy Opperman & Assoc stands for an holistic and strategic approach to Disability inclusion.
Promoting a strong culture of Disability confidence in organisations, not only with employment issues, but integrating corporate Social investment as well as all operational functions of the business; including customer service, sales, facilities, HR, marketing, IT and procurement to name a few.

Jeremy Opperman developed the practical and adaptable “Meeting Disability” suite of programmes, in 2002 which has been conducted in over 500 workshops reaching well over 6000, executives, managers and staff nationwide in both private and public sectors.

In addition the company has been involved in the attitudinal assessment of over 230 managers and more than 150 staff with Disabilities nationwide. This data combined with the hundreds of professional access audits conducted by our internationally trained associate, gives Jeremy Opperman & Assoc unparalleled insight and leadership in the area of “Disability Integration Preparation” in organizational South Africa. Recently the company launched its latest strategic approach to Disability and Employment Equity, “Eating Elephants – One Bite at a time”; Applied Disability integration strategy.

Jeremy Opperman & Assoc is a DOE, (Disability Owned Enterprise). It draws on the expertise of a wide range of experienced Disability related professionals, thereby tapping into a unique breadth of service and experience. Most associates are persons with Disabilities themselves.

The services most frequently provided include:

Internationally accredited Access Auditing

Sign Language training

Disability related Labour Legal services

Policy writing and evaluation

Disability strategy consultation

Research; surveys, focus groups and interviews.

Facilitation and training of awareness raising and sensitization

Support, coaching and advisory services.

For more detail or information on any of the services above, please contact info@disabilitydesk.co.za or jeremy@disabilitydesk.co.za

About Jeremy Opperman

Jeremy grew up in Cape Town, South Africa.

After graduating from UCT in 1987, Jeremy worked as a marketer of leading edge people development and training services and products.

Since starting his own HR marketing consultancy in 1999, Jeremy started focusing increasingly on diversity and Disability issues and is particularly passionate about the “Unhesitant and natural” integration of people with disabilities into mainstream society.

Jeremy is a strong proponent for Pan-Disability advocacy and began to forge links with numerous DPO’s (Disabled Peoples Organisations), government role-players and many individuals and consultancies involved in this area. Many of these early relationships emerged to become the associates of Jeremy opperman & Assoc.

It was at this time that Jeremy formulated his mantra, “Disability integration Preperation”.
This was borne out of the frustration and constant disappointment experienced by individuals and service providers attempting to (non stereotypically) place or introduce people with Disabilities into public and private organisations, usually with little or no success.

From then on, Jeremy shifted focus somewhat and directed his energy almost exclusively toward addressing what he believes to be the principle problem in the sluggish performance around Disability Equity in South Africa; that the vast majority of people in organizations are simply not prepared (or inclined) to perform, due to a pervasive lack of awareness and understanding about Disability and in particular its relationship within Society.

Since then Jeremy has worked exclusively in the area of addressing the need for attitudinal shifting in organizations, leaving the business of placement of persons with disabilities to the few individuals and organizations that are competent to do this.

Jeremy created the Meeting Disability suite of awareness programmes in 2002 and has personally conducted over 500 workshops for Executives, Managers and Staff in every kind of organization, public and private.

Jeremy speaks, writes and consults widely on such topics as Disability Confidence, Making a business case for Disability equity, A Strategic approach to Disability Integration and Corporate Social investment in Disability. He recently introduced his latest approach; Applied Disability Strategy, Eating Elephants, One bite at a time.

Jeremy is a founder member of ADiPSA (Association of Diversity Providers of SA, and is also involved with several disability institutions, and is on the Board of directors of St Dunstans (SA), WUFSA and APD (Cape Town.

Jeremy lives in Claremont, Cape Town with his wife Jackie and their children, Saskia and Benjamin, and of course ….his Guide dog Barklee.