ABSTRACT
Background: The manner in which disability is understood influences how individuals within a society, its institutions, policies and structures are able to accommodate and support people with disabilities (PWD) (Kaplan 2000). Understanding how students with disabilities (SWD) within a higher education context perceive and experience disability as well as how key players, namely, lecturers and disability unit (DU) staff, who influence that experience, is important in further shaping policy and providing a truly inclusive environment for all within HEIs. Objectives: The study aimed to examine the narratives of disability among SWD, lecturers and the DU within a tertiary institution, with a view to better understand their experiences and required initiatives to address the challenges of disability within a higher tertiary institution. Method: The study drew on three theoretical frameworks: social constructionism, feminist disability theory and the Foucauldian perspective. Data for the study were collected through in-depth semi-structured interviews with 12 SWD, seven members of staff from the institution's DU and five lecturers from within the School of Applied Human Sciences. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. Results: The findings suggested that in spite of both facilitating and positive representations of disability, the dominant representation of disability was perceived as challenging and as a result, disempowering. Students with disabilities were found to adapt, and consequently modify their behaviour by disassociating from their disability in order to fit in. Conclusion: The study highlights the need for creating spaces and engagement within an HEI context that both challenge negative discourses of disability, and at the same time, promote positive representations of disability
Subject(s)
Disability Evaluation , Narration , Schools , South Africa , StudentsABSTRACT
The fight against HIV remains complicated with contracting donor resources and high burden of HIV among reproductive age adults still often limiting independent economic development. In the widespread HIV epidemics of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA); it is proposed that key populations with specific HIV acquisition and transmission risk factors; such as men who have sex with men (MSM); female sex workers (FSW); and people who use drugs (PUD); are less relevant because HIV transmission is sustained in the general population with average HIV acquisition and transmission risks. However; the understanding that key populations are less relevant in the epidemics of Africa is based on the surveillance system from which these populations are mostly excluded. Outside of SSA; the epidemics of HIV are generally concentrated in the same populations that are excluded from the primary HIV surveillance systems in SSA. The manuscripts included in this special issue present convincing data that FSW; MSM; and PUD carry disproportionate burdens of HIV wherever studied in SSA; are underrepresented in HIV programs and research; and require specific HIV prevention services. These manuscripts collectively suggest that the only effective path forward is one that transcends denial and stigma and focuses on systematically collecting data on all populations at risk for HIV. In addition; there is a need to move to a third generation of HIV surveillance as the current one inadvertently devalues HIV surveillance among key populations in the context of widespread HIV epidemics. Overall; the data reviewed here demonstrate that the dynamics of HIV in Africa are complex and achieving an AIDS-free generation necessitates acceptance of that complexity in all HIV surveillance; research; and prevention; treatment; and care programs