{"id":71442,"date":"2016-06-13T06:47:40","date_gmt":"2016-06-13T04:47:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/universities-must-do-far-more-for-students-with-disabilities-the-conversation\/"},"modified":"2016-06-13T06:47:40","modified_gmt":"2016-06-13T04:47:40","slug":"universities-must-do-far-more-for-students-with-disabilities-the-conversation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/universities-must-do-far-more-for-students-with-disabilities-the-conversation\/","title":{"rendered":"Universities must do far more for students with disabilities | The Conversation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Universities must do far more for students with disabilities<\/a>: <\/p>\n

Students with disabilities face massive physical and attitudinal hurdles.<\/span> UNAMID\/Flickr<\/span>, CC BY-NC-ND<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On paper, people with disabilities in South Africa enjoy the same rights as anyone else to an education, whether at school or university. The country\u2019s constitution prohibits the state from unfairly discriminating \u201cdirectly or indirectly against anyone on the grounds of disability\u201d. South Africa is also a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. This obliges the state \u201cto take proactive measures to ensure that the rights of persons with disabilities are promoted and protected\u201d.<\/p>\n

Universities, too, are obliged to reasonably accommodate those with disabilities. They must provide appropriate support services that are tailored to individuals\u2019 educational needs.<\/p>\n

The Higher Education Institutional Culture, Equity and Transformation Group at Rhodes University has been exploring disabled students\u2019 experiences of universities. Our work, which will be presented at three different conferences in the latter half of 2016, suggests that many universities are not meeting their obligations to these students.<\/p>\n

Universities are excluding, disabling<\/h2>\n

Most universities have, to date, responded to disabled students\u2019 presence by drawing from what\u2019s been called the \u201cmedical model\u201d of disability. This model frames disability as an individual physical problem that\u2019s inherent in a person\u2019s own body. It emphasises the ways in which a disabled person lacks the capacity to fit into the existing institutional framework or environment \u2013 and so needs to be accommodated, if possible.<\/p>\n

The alternative is to see the ways in which environments that are geared towards those who are regarded as \u201cnormal\u201d are themselves excluding and disabling. It\u2019s not disabled people who lack capacity: the lack lies in how these environments operate and what assumptions those who occupy them have about what is \u201cnormal\u201d.<\/p>\n

For example, institutions might see the person who needs a ramp to access a building as someone who needs to be \u201caccommodated\u201d. Instead environments should be seen as disabled when they don\u2019t, as a matter of course, provide access to all humans regardless of their physical makeup.<\/p>\n

Students with disabilities find that they must accommodate themselves to institutional contexts that are, from their point of view, profoundly disabling. The onus is placed on the student to \u201cfit in\u201d. These students often find themselves unable to access higher education. They make up less than 1% of South Africa\u2019s total student population in post-secondary education and training. In total, 2.9 million South Africans \u2013 7.5% of the population \u2013 are disabled.<\/p>\n

When people with disabilities make it past the initial hurdles and into higher education, they\u2019re often on the margins of university life \u2013 not just academically, but also socially.<\/p>\n

More than financial barriers<\/h2>\n

The National Student Financial Aid Scheme provides bursaries specifically for students with disabilities. This money is meant to cover tuition, accommodation, meals and transport costs. It also pays for materials prescribed by the institution and one or more assistive devices, like wheelchairs.<\/p>\n

But simply removing financial barriers and providing access to a disabling environment is not enough.<\/p>\n

Many universities still don\u2019t even have disability units. There have been several instances of students being turned away because universities don\u2019t have the facilities to accommodate them. Even when access isn\u2019t denied outright, though, students with disabilities face attitudinal and physical barriers. It\u2019s not unreasonable to expect universities to provide sign language interpreters, ramps, assistive devices, carers and the like. Society must take its obligations to all its members seriously, regardless of their physical traits.<\/p>\n

International examples prove that this can be done. In Sweden, 0.3% of the annual university budget is earmarked for meeting the different needs of students with disabilities. Canadian universities do well in supporting students with disabilities, too. Cornell University in the US has done excellent, practical work around this issue.<\/p>\n

Canaries in the coal mine<\/h2>\n

Students with disabilities can be seen, in many ways, as the canaries of South Africa\u2019s higher education system. They alert society to the ways in which universities continue to preach \u201cinclusion\u201d without asking the important question: included into what and by whom?<\/p>\n

Universities must think carefully and engage fully with what it might mean to create cultures that are friendly to disability. This might provide new insights into the multiple ways in which dominant norms and practices do violence to those whose lives and experiences they exclude, ignore, denigrate and fail to recognise as fully human, deserving of equal respect and consideration. Inclusion into unchanged cultures, physical environments and day-to-day practices does not make institutions more just. It is institutions, not students, that are disabled and disabling.<\/p>\n

Authors\u2019 note: Are you an academic, Master\u2019s or Doctoral student conducting research related to the experiences of students with disabilities in South African universities? If so, we would like to invite you to contribute a chapter to a new book. For more information or to send a concept note, contact Des Chiwandire on chiwandiredesire@gmail.com.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

Desire Chiwandire receives funding from The Mellon Institutional Cultures and Transformation Scholarship. He is a member of the Higher Education Institutional Culture, Equity and Transformation Group under the supervision of Prof. L.D. Vincent in the Political and International Studies Department at Rhodes University, South Africa.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Louise Vincent receives funding from the Andrew Mellon Foundation and the National Research Foundation.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Source:<\/strong> The Conversation \u2013 Articles (AFRICA)<\/a><\/small>
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Universities must do far more for students with disabilities: Students with disabilities face massive physical and attitudinal hurdles. UNAMID\/Flickr, CC BY-NC-ND On paper, people with disabilities in South Africa enjoy the same rights as anyone else to an education, whether at school or university. The country\u2019s constitution prohibits the state from unfairly discriminating \u201cdirectly or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4584],"tags":[8890,10016,3432,2211,1031,7763],"class_list":{"0":"post-71442","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-africa-news-2","7":"tag-conversation","8":"tag-disabilities","9":"tag-more","10":"tag-must","11":"tag-students","12":"tag-universities","13":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71442","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71442"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71442\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}