Challenges Confronting Students With Disabilities in Research Engagement in South Africa

2022 ◽  
pp. 1953-1967
Author(s):  
Sibonokuhle Ndlovu
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
South African ◽  
Time Allocation ◽  
Negative Attitudes ◽  
Feedback Communication ◽  
Research Engagement ◽  
Adequate Funding ◽  
Physical Barriers ◽  
Underlying Causes

This chapter presents physical barriers, lack of adequate funding, poor supervision, delay in feedback, communication difficulties, negative attitudes, and impairment-related disadvantages as the unique challenges confronted by students with disabilities when doing research in higher education in South Africa. Data were collected through scanning South African and international literature available on Google scholar, ProQuest, in books, journal articles, and online resources. Informed by decolonial theory, the invisible underlying causes of the challenges are discussed. Suitable assistive devices, listening to students with disabilities' voices, and more time allocation are suggested as strategies that could improve research engagement for students with disabilities.

Challenges Confronting Students With Disabilities in Research Engagement in South Africa

2020 ◽  
pp. 129-149
Author(s):  
Sibonokuhle Ndlovu
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
South African ◽  
Time Allocation ◽  
Negative Attitudes ◽  
Feedback Communication ◽  
Research Engagement ◽  
Adequate Funding ◽  
Physical Barriers ◽  
Underlying Causes

This chapter presents physical barriers, lack of adequate funding, poor supervision, delay in feedback, communication difficulties, negative attitudes, and impairment-related disadvantages as the unique challenges confronted by students with disabilities when doing research in higher education in South Africa. Data were collected through scanning South African and international literature available on Google scholar, ProQuest, in books, journal articles, and online resources. Informed by decolonial theory, the invisible underlying causes of the challenges are discussed. Suitable assistive devices, listening to students with disabilities' voices, and more time allocation are suggested as strategies that could improve research engagement for students with disabilities.

scholarly journals Preparation of students with disabilities to graduate into professions in the South African context of higher learning: Obstacles and opportunities

2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sibonokuhle Ndlovu ◽  
Elizabeth Walton
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
South African ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
The South ◽  
Negative Attitudes ◽  
Self Advocacy ◽  
Persons With Disabilities ◽  
Education Support ◽  
Professional Degrees

Background: Persons with disabilities continue to be excluded from professions in South Africa despite legislation on non-discrimination and equity. Objectives: We sought to identify both the opportunities and obstacles that students with disabilities face in professional degrees. Method: Selected texts from the South African and international literature were analysed and synthesised. Results: Students with disabilities are afforded opportunities to graduate into professions through the current climate of transformation, inclusion and disability policies, various support structures and funding. These opportunities are mitigated by obstacles at both the higher education site and at the workplace. At university, they may experience difficulties in accessing the curriculum, disability units may be limited in the support they can offer, policies may not be implemented, funding is found to be inadequate and the built environment may be inaccessible. Fieldwork poses additional obstacles in terms of public transport which is not accessible to students with disabilities; a lack of higher education support extended to the field sites, and buildings not designed for access by people with disabilities. At both sites, students are impacted by negative attitudes and continued assumptions that disability results from individual deficit, rather than exclusionary practices and pressures. Conclusion: It is in the uniqueness of professional preparation, with its high demands of both theory and practice that poses particular obstacles for students with disabilities. We argue for the development of self-advocacy for students with disabilities, ongoing institutional and societal transformation and further research into the experiences of students with disabilities studying for professional degrees.

Conflict Resolution or Transformation? An Analysis of the South African and Mozambican Political Settlements

2001 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 303-329 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Conflict Resolution ◽  
South African ◽  
The Political ◽  
The South ◽  
Electoral Outcome ◽  
Popular Support ◽  
Underlying Causes ◽  
The Government ◽  
Political Settlement

AbstractHow much conflict must be resolved for a political settlement and its implementation to be successful? This article argues that a political settlement must satisfy the combatants' expectations regarding the resolution of the causes of the conflict. How deeply do these causes need to be resolved for the parties to be satisfied? To answer this question two concepts are introduced: the immediate and underlying causes of a conflict. Immediate causes (grievances) are specific, concrete policies that provoke some subset of a state's population to rebel against the government. Underlying causes are diverging interests that led to the introduction of these policies that caused the grievances. This article examines the political settlements in South Africa and Mozambique that terminated armed hostilities, overcame the conflict, and opened the door to normal politics. The research indicates that in both cases the political settlement satisfactorily resolved the immediate causes of the conflict. There was greater dissatisfaction in South Africa because the political settlement did not resolve the underlying causes of the conflict. A major reason for this dissatisfaction was that although the electoral outcome gave the ANC strong popular support, the political settlement limited its ability to grapple with root causes. In Mozambique, fears of reigniting another protracted armed confrontation and the close electoral outcome dissuaded either side from addressing the underlying causes of the conflict.

scholarly journals Youth marginalisation as a faith-based concern in contemporary South African society: Introducing a research contribution

2018 ◽  
Vol 74 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ignatius Swart
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Vantage Point ◽  
African Society ◽  
South African Society ◽  
Research Engagement ◽  
Faith Based ◽  
Present Collection ◽  
Special Collection ◽  
International Research Project

The aim of this article is to introduce a special collection of articles focused on the topic ‘Youth marginalisation as a faith-based concern in contemporary South African society’. In meeting this aim the discussion begins by alluding to an international research project known under the acronym YOMA (Youth at the Margins: A Comparative Study of the Contribution of Faith-Based Organisations to Social Cohesion in South Africa and Nordic Europe) as the source that inspired the undertaking of the collection. This recognition thereupon leads the article in subsequent sections to give some more detailed recognition to the YOMA project but also to a larger corpus of recent scholarly contributions as the most evident manifestations to date of an emerging South African research engagement with the topical focus under discussion. From this vantage point the article then proceeds to present the current special collection as a concerted attempt to give further momentum to the emerging focus. Importantly, however, this is done by presenting a more elaborate argument about the imperative of interdisciplinary engagement within the topical focus and how such engagement defines the nature and scope of the present collection. This finally leads the discussion to conclude with a summary of the contributing articles.

scholarly journals Access into professional degrees by students with disabilities in South African higher learning: A decolonial perspective

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sibonokuhle Ndlovu
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
South African ◽  
Black People ◽  
Labour Force ◽  
Higher Learning ◽  
The Real ◽  
Qualitative Research Design ◽  
African Context ◽  
Professional Degrees

Background: Former historically disadvantaged social groups such as women, black people and those with disabilities are expected to participate in the skilled labour force that South Africa has pledged to produce for the 21st century. However, in the South African context, research widely neglects access of those into professional degrees in higher learning. There is a need for such an exploration because people with disabilities have been found to be excluded from professional employment.Objectives: Using decolonial theory, this empirical study sought to explore obstacles confronted by students with disabilities at entry in a specific institution of higher learning in South Africa. The aim was to unveil the invisible obstacles and their causes for an effective intervention.Method: A qualitative research design was adopted and in-depth interviews were conducted to collect data from the participants. This particular dimension of research method was chosen to enable dialogue and development of partnership, which is important for collecting rich data.Results: While policies of inclusion still enabled access of all students into professional degrees, there were however inequitable practices, alienation and inequality that excluded students with disabilities at entry. Obstacles seen at surface level were not the real ones; the real ones were the deep-seated issues of coloniality.Conclusion: If the underlying causes of obstacles at entry are not visible to students with disabilities themselves and the responsible stakeholders, students might continue to be oppressed on entry into the professional degrees and in higher learning generally. Obstacles can only be dismantled when there is an awareness about their deep-seated causes.

scholarly journals There Is More Than Meets the Eye: Success Stories of a Visual Impaired Student and Lecturer

INKLUSI ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Danri Hester Delport
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
South African ◽  
Visually Impaired ◽  
Higher Education Institutions ◽  
Hard Work ◽  
Individual Interviews ◽  
Success Stories ◽  
The Disabled ◽  
Physical Barriers

Although Higher Education Institutions have come a long way in including students with disabilities, many students still experience exclusion or "otherness" among their abled peers.  Currently, there is a gap in research where the focus is on the abilities and success stories of such individuals rather than their disabilities, the barriers they face, or the adjustments made to meet their needs.  This research aims to share the success stories of a visually impaired student and his visually impaired lecturer at a South African University. Semi-structured, in-depth individual interviews were used as collection instruments where after the data was analyzed. The appreciation for friends outweighed the physical barriers. Through perseverance and hard work, the disabled student proved her teacher wrong by successfully entering university and completing her Ph.D..  Both participants looked beyond their limitations and realized their capabilities.[Meskipun usaha untuk mewujudkan perguruan tinggi inklusif sudah dilakukan sejauh ini, tetapi banyak mahasiswa difabel yang masih merasakan ‘keberbedaan’ dirinya dari mahasiswa lain.  Inklusi penyandang disabilitas harus mengarah pada peningkatan partisipasi dalam tatanan yang menghasilkan siswa, teman, atau guru terbaik. Saat ini, ada kesenjangan dalam penelitian yang fokusnya adalah pada kemampuan dan kisah sukses individu tersebut daripada disabilitas mereka, hambatan yang mereka hadapi, atau penyesuaian yang dilakukan untuk memenuhi kebutuhan mereka. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk berbagi kisah sukses seorang mahasiswa tunanetra sekaligus dosen tunanetranya di Universitas Afrika Selatan. Melalui ketekunan dan kerja keras, para difabel dalam tulisan ini membuktikan apa yang dianggap tidak mungkin. Kedua subyek melampaui keterbatasan mereka dan menyadari kemampuan mereka.]

scholarly journals Exclusion Reloaded: The Chronicles of Covid-19 on Students with Disabilities in a South African Open Distance Learning Context

2021 ◽  
pp. 137-147
Author(s):  
S.A. Ngubane-Mokiwa ◽  
◽  
J.N. Zongozzi
Keyword(s):  
Distance Learning ◽  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
South African ◽  
Assistive Technologies ◽  
Higher Learning ◽  
Learning Context ◽  
Negative Attitudes ◽  
Online Mode ◽  
Institutions Of Higher Learning ◽  
Learning Platforms

Students with disabilities have been going through different forms of discrimination and exclusion. These include inaccessible learning materials and learning platforms, negative attitudes from lecturers, fellow students and more. This paper comes from a qualitative study that sought to explore how Covid-19 deepened these educational inequalities at an Open Distance Learning institution in South Africa. The results of the study reveal that institutions of higher learning had to quickly adjust their teaching and assessment to online mode. This led to heightened exclusion of students with disabilities as their examinations had to be postponed to second semester due to lack of preparations for special examinations. Students also reported experiencing extra pressure as they had to write double the examinations at the end of the year. Some students reported lack of access to assistive technologies which they normally borrow from the library, this was because the Post Office was not operating during the National Lockdown Level 5. The novel nature of Covid-19 is such that the real barriers it caused on people and students with disabilities in particular and it will keep revealing itself gradually. This paper ends by making recommendations on how an ODL institution could accommodate the needs of students with disabilities to enhance their learning experiences during pandemics or natural disasters.

scholarly journals Exploration of the academic lives of students with disabilities at South African universities: Lecturers’ perspectives

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oliver Mutanga ◽  
Melanie Walker
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
South African ◽  
Literature Report ◽  
Persons With Disabilities ◽  
Policy Debates ◽  
South African Universities ◽  
Academic Lives

Background: A decade has passed since South Africa signed and ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, a human rights treaty that protects the rights and dignity of people with disabilities. However, not much have changed for students with disabilities. Objectives: The aim of this study was to explore lecturers’ experiences with, and perspectives on, disability as well as with students with disabilities. It was hoped that this would contribute to the ongoing policy debates about diversity, inclusion and support for students with disabilities at universities.Methods: In an effort to understand the lives of students with disabilities better, a study which included students with disabilities, lecturers and disability supporting staff was conducted at two South African universities – University of the Free State and University of Venda. The paper takes a snapshot view of four lecturers and their perceptions of the lives of students with disabilities at their respective universities. Results and Conclusion: Although most disability literature report students with disabilities blaming lecturers for their failure to advance their needs, this paper highlights that the education system needs to be supportive to lecturers for the inclusive agenda to be realised. An argument is made for a more comprehensive approach towards a national disability policy in higher education involving many stakeholders. Without a broader understanding of disability, it will be difficult to engage with the complex ways in which inequalities emerge and are sustained.

scholarly journals Designing a Model for Facilitating the Inclusion of Higher Education International Students with Disabilities in South Africa

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 168-181
Author(s):  
Nina (HG) Du Toit
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
South Africa ◽  
International Students ◽  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
South African ◽  
Higher Education Institutions ◽  
African Students ◽  
Persons With Disabilities ◽  
Education Environment ◽  
Role Players

Higher education in South Africa is regulated by several policies, and the obligation of increased access and participation of persons with disabilities into higher education is recognized in legislation (Department of Education, 1997; Department of Higher Education and Training, 2013). However, research indicates that the proportion of students with disabilities in higher education and in study programmes abroad is still very low worldwide (Fazekas, 2017; Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2011). Study opportunities for these students in higher education institutions abroad, including South Africa, should therefore be increased to provide equal access and experience in an inclusive higher education environment. This study explores possible reasons for the low engagement of South African students with disabilities in international mobility programmes and the function of key role-players in supporting international students with disabilities studying in South Africa (incoming students) and South African students with disabilities studying abroad (outgoing students). This study also explores the ways by which the exchange process could be facilitated more effectively within the context of an inclusive higher education environment. Data on the support services offered to these students was obtained by means of questionnaires sent to the International Relations Offices and Disability Rights Units at higher education institutions in South Africa. The study culminated in the design of a model which specifies the roles of the various role-players in supporting international students with disabilities during their pre-departure, study and return phases.

Reframing Xenophobia in South Africa as Colour-Blind: The Limits of the Afro Phobia Thesis

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 433-444
Author(s):  
Amanuel Isak Tewolde
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Conflict Theory ◽  
Black African ◽  
South Africans ◽  
Theoretical Perspectives ◽  
Online Newspaper ◽  
Close Proximity ◽  
Realistic Conflict Theory

Many scholars and South African politicians characterize the widespread anti-foreigner sentiment and violence in South Africa as dislike against migrants and refugees of African origin which they named ‘Afro-phobia’. Drawing on online newspaper reports and academic sources, this paper rejects the Afro-phobia thesis and argues that other non-African migrants such as Asians (Pakistanis, Indians, Bangladeshis and Chinese) are also on the receiving end of xenophobia in post-apartheid South Africa. I contend that any ‘outsider’ (White, Asian or Black African) who lives and trades in South African townships and informal settlements is scapegoated and attacked. I term this phenomenon ‘colour-blind xenophobia’. By proposing this analytical framework and integrating two theoretical perspectives — proximity-based ‘Realistic Conflict Theory (RCT)’ and Neocosmos’ exclusivist citizenship model — I contend that xenophobia in South Africa targets those who are in close proximity to disadvantaged Black South Africans and who are deemed outsiders (e.g., Asian, African even White residents and traders) and reject arguments that describe xenophobia in South Africa as targeting Black African refugees and migrants.

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