DJ KabilaDJ Kabila has become a big name in the local house scene in Durban, South Africa, The Daily Dispatch reports. A wheelchair user due to a car accident nine years ago, his hits include "Wonke Amantombazana" and "Holding Back" from his 2007 debut house album, "Believe."
DJ Kabila, whose real name is Siyanda Makanya, says he has learned to deal with the inaccessibility of most nightclubs in Durban.
“Nightclubs in this country are inaccessible to disabled people, period,” he said. “Life is hard as an able-bodied person, and it’s even harder when you are disabled. I’m used to have people looking at me at parties like they are asking themselves: ‘What is this one doing here?’ I’ve grown out of it, and sometimes I even drive myself to gigs. If I struggle, I get people to help me up the stairs.”
Kabila also tries to make people aware that disabled people like to have fun, just like everyone else.
“People seem to think that because one is on a wheelchair they can’t live a normal life. It’s psychological warfare that we have to deal with. Disabled people also need entertainment,” said the 30- year-old . “I grew up a as party animal, but that doesn’t mean that now I’m in a wheelchair, I must sit at home while my buddies are at a party. That’s just not me.”
To increase awareness of disabilities, Kabila recently established the Kabila Foundation, which plans to assist disabled people with employment. Every year on June 24, his birthday, he holds a fundraiser to raise money to improve facilities for the physically disabled people at clubs and other areas of entertainment.
Kabila says he doesn't really miss his former life as a "party animal."
“I use the same amount of energy I used to put out on the dance floor by spinning great music. It’s all cool with me,” he says.