Provision of Assistive Technology for Students with Disabilities in South African Higher Education.

This paper used the Critical Disability Theory (CDT) to analyse the provision of assistive technology (AT) and assistive devices at an institution of higher education in South African. In this empirical study, data were collected through interviews with students with disabilities and Disability Rights Centre staff members. The paper sought to explore the effectiveness of the provision of AT and assistive devices, in terms of enabling students with disabilities' learning. The provision was deemed inadequate, and a specific AT and assistive device was inaccessible to one category of disability, consequently limiting learning. The paper concludes that the provision of assistive devices at the institution enabled students with disabilities' learning, however, there was a need for improvement by way of the Universal Design for Learning (UDL). The UDL will help all diverse students, including students with disabilities in all their categories of disability, to be assisted to learn through the provision of AT and assistive devices. It is hoped that the paper will contribute to contemporary debates on the provision of AT and assistive devices for people with disabilities in low-resource settings, from a South African context specifically, and in higher education broadly.

Access to formal education for the San community in Tsholotsho, Zimbabwe: challenges and prospects.

This article examines the myriad of challenges faced by primary and secondary school going children amongst the San community in their quest to attain formal education in rural Tsholotsho, Zimbabwe. Using a mixed method approach, the study utilised focus group discussions from selected primary and secondary schools, key informant interviews with headmasters and teachers and also survey questionnaires supported by an ethnographic research design. It emerged from the study that long distance travelled to school, abject poverty, dilapidated infrastructure and the perceived negative attitude towards education has had telling effects on the marginalised San community. The hindrances to attaining formal education has tended to solidify the existing stereotypes, prejudices and social labels against the San community by other ethnic groups as "separatists", "non-conformist" and at worst "primitive" in as far as participating in modern and mainstream development is concerned. The article suggests that there is a need for a paradigm shift in attitude and behaviour of development agents and actors in their policy positions and their interventions to the San community. Formal education for the San community will be hard to achieve as long as institutions perceive them as subaltern citizens, who are a nuisance.

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

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.

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

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.