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Nurturing disability inclusion within higher education institutions

06 December 2021 | Story Maduvha Malivhoho | Photo Supplied

Maduvha Malivhoho is an Editor at the Accessible Study Material Production team for the University of the Free State (UFS) Centre for Universal Access and Disability Support (CUADS).

"Disability describes the social exclusion and barriers imposed on people with disabilities and impairments evoke an unpleasant feeling in us, and it is the feeling which motivates how we react when we face disability and people with disabilities." – Brian Watermeyer

South Africa commemorates National Disability Rights Month, known as DRAM, annually between 3 November and 3 December. International Day of Persons with Disabilities, also known as National Disability Rights Awareness Day, is celebrated on 3 December. The theme for 2021 is ‘The Year of Charlotte Manye Maxeke – Create and Realise an Inclusive Society Upholding Rights of Persons with Disabilities’.

Disability is a quintessential post-modern concept, because it is complex, variable, contingent, and situated. One is always disabled concerning the context in which you are put, subject to many definitions from different perspectives, and is used for various disciplines ranging from medicine, sociology, and political science. To fully comprehend disability, one needs to consider multiple perception models in the quest for a better understanding of disability; so-called ‘models of disability’ emerge in disability research. In line with most notions of disability, it could be associated with the medical model, social model, human rights model, and biopsychosocial model. Disability models aim to demonstrate how society perceives, understands, and addresses the needs of people with disabilities.

The Disability Models

Medical model: views disability as a personal tragedy in need of cure and rehabilitation.

Social model: views disability as predominantly a socially driven issue; allows us to reconstruct social inequality for people with disabilities as a collective experience of discrimination and injustice, rather than a personal tragedy affecting only individuals. However, the model does not address the emotional aspects of disability and the realities of impairment.

Biopsychosocial model: views disability as a combination of an individual's state of health and their surrounding environment, that is, society. By recognising disability as a social construct of intricate variables and interaction of biological factors (genetic, biochemical, etc.) and psychological factors (mood, personality, behaviour, etc.), the social aspects (cultural, familial, socio-economic, and medical, etc.) is to recognise the complexity; specifically, the intersectionality that informs disability is recognised.

The human rights model: assumes that societal barriers can only be removed by guaranteeing rights to people with disabilities. Human rights principles recognise that fundamental rights are inherent in all human beings, regardless of race, gender, ability, and nationality. Therefore, disability rights are viewed as a human right under this paradigm, advocating for equal participation and opportunities for individuals with impairments.

Promoting the human rights of people with disabilities, the White Paper on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in South Africa mandates a universal design approach, which is defined as "the design of products, environments, programs, and services to be usable by all persons to the greatest extent possible without the need for adaptation or specialized design."

As per the Global Education Monitoring report on inclusion and education, the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework is particularly relevant for a comprehensive understanding of inclusive education as tackling barriers to learning, noting that "the Universal Design for Learning concept encompasses approaches to enhance accessibility and eliminate barriers to learning." Such an approach can help to integrate UDL into the educational system by addressing the various social, emotional, and learning requirements of different groups while working for the universal system-related goal.

South Africa is among the few countries in the world to have signed and ratified the most acclaimed global convention on disability in 2007. The international trend endorsed by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) seeks to promote, protect, and ensure the full and equal enjoyment of all human rights by persons with disabilities. Although disability is varyingly defined, and definitions change across time and space, the UNCRPD defines persons with disabilities to include long-term physical, mental, intellectual, or sensory impairments, which in interaction with various barriers may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis. For this reason, creating and realising an inclusive upholding of the rights of persons with disabilities is critical in building an enabling environment for all. However, despite progressive legislative structures in South Africa, persons with disabilities continue to face barriers that prevent equal access to opportunities and participating fully in all aspects of life. It is primarily due to inaccessible infrastructure, prejudice, stigmatisation, discrimination, and attitudinal behaviour towards persons with disabilities, which often result from a lack of understanding.

According to Stats SA, 80% of persons with disabilities aged 20-24 are not attending tertiary education, yet the population of students with disabilities at tertiary institutions is just 1%. It is also revealed that there is a strong demographic gap between races. Access to education is necessary for advancing sustainable development, but it is evident that inclusivity within tertiary education remains out of reach for many. The University of the Free State aims to foster disability inclusion within the Integrated Transformation Plan, which is in line with the universal access approach guided by the Centre for Universal Access and Disability Support (CUADS).

CUADS, a well-known disability unit, was established in line with non-discrimination legislative changes and inclusive policy frameworks for access and equal participation for students with disabilities. It serves as a bridge between students with disabilities and the institution, ensuring mutual understanding. The majority of such departments are led and managed by women, as women have a dynamic role in enhancing and nurturing the aspirations of children and youth with disabilities to get access to education. Despite the positive role of these departments in the full inclusion of students with disabilities, attitudinal barriers remain a challenge to their non-disabled counterparts.

Furthermore, female students with disabilities face particularly higher levels of marginalisation and disadvantage because of the double discrimination based on their disability and gender. Their status as women renders them vulnerable to gender-based violence (GBV), including sexual abuse, maltreatment, exploitation, and intimate partner violence (IPV) compared to men with disabilities.

South Africa has a high prevalence of GBV, especially IPV. Women with disabilities are more at risk and experience an additional layer of violence compared to women without disabilities and men with and without disabilities. It is also revealed that blind women and women with severe intellectual and mental disabilities are equally perceived as highly exposed to GBV compared to women with other disabilities (e.g., if an intellectually challenged individual could not give informed consent and/or when they report it, it will be difficult for them to identify the perpetrator).

Furthermore, men with disabilities are at greater risk of GBV, but not comparable to women and girls with disabilities. The gap perpetuates unequal gender relations in all contexts of South Africans’ lives. While various organisations seek to promote women's rights in GBV advocacy, there is relatively little emphasis on GBV against persons with disabilities, including violence against women and children.

To build an inclusive society, one needs to understand intersectionality concepts that provide a prism to comprehend marginalisation and exclusion better. Understanding intersectionality is related to how various identities such as race, gender, class, disability, sexuality, and others intersect – how lived identities are seen as entwined with oppressive systems that are mutually constitutive and reinforcing. Intersectionality as an approach recognises how complex reality is and how this complexity informs social conditions and behaviour; it acknowledges that people's lives are defined by multiple layered identities that derive from social relations, histories, cultures, and other operations of power structures.

It is an analytical tool for exploring, comprehending, and responding to how gender intersects with different identities and how these intersections lead to distinctive oppression and privilege experiences. Also, intersectionality addresses how social structural norms such as racism, patriarchy, classism, and other social systems of discrimination function and interact to create social inequalities that shape attitudes and behaviour towards those who are different, such as those with disabilities. The approach invites us to shift away from binary thinking and towards a more global human rights stance.

Therefore, higher education institutions have a critical role in shaping the future of society as places where students are educated and prepared for their future vocations. In line with inclusive curricula, the university should introduce disability discourse into models such as UFSS, which is mandatory for all first-years. Also, the institution should increase awareness and visibility by incorporating critical disability messages into all discussions, addressing all aspects; utilising disability posters on campus, and departments such as Residence Life, KovsieSport, UFS Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL), and CUADS should collaborate to host disability events and heighten communication around it; leveraging other mega events such as national days, themed days, conferences, etc., to spread messages on disability and to build an inclusive society; hosting lectures, debates, and discussions on disability topics and promoting rights of persons with disabilities; and hosting student competitions on equality, justice, and human dignity. Through such interventions, the university will have a community that can facilitate the creation of inclusive spaces in their homes, communities, work, and social areas. Disability should be a collective responsibility to achieve an inclusive society that upholds the rights of persons with disabilities.

Inclusive legislative policies (i.e., the White Paper on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, 2018 and the Strategic Policy Framework on Disability for the Post-School Education and Training sector) should guide institutions to ensure that students with disabilities are protected. These documents further promote the right to (inclusive) education, as a universal access approach in education does not benefit only students with disabilities, but everyone.

News Archive

During 2011: Achievements at the UFS

2011-12-01

Sarah Shannon

Dr Alex Amtaika, Department of Political Science

During a conference at Khon Kaen University in Thailand, Dr Alexius Amtaika from our Department of Political Science was elected as Executive Director and Convener of the International Committee of Scholars of Local Government. This honour was bestowed upon Dr Alexius during the first International Conference on Local Government at Khon Kaen University.

Sarah Shannon

We all have heard stories about inspirational people, who defy the odds, fight circumstance every day and never give up. Sarah Shannon has cerebral palsy but has never stopped dreaming and achieving them.

Sarah is also a competitive swimmer, and is currently ranked seventh in the world in her class of disabilities.

She is currently completing her postgraduate certificate in Education, Foundation Phrase, through Unisa. She is also studying Sociology at our university.

DW Bester and Sannah Mokone, Rhodes Scholars

Of the four open Rhodes Scholarships available to students from all universities in Southern Africa, two of our students won these prestigious scholarships. DW Bester, B.Sc. Hons. Actuarial Science student, and Sannah Mokone, BPub-cum laude student, joined Oxford University in the United Kingdom in September 2011 to further their studies.

The Rhodes Scholarships, arguably one of the most prestigious scholarships in the world, were founded in 1903 in the will of Cecil John Rhodes and cover the full costs of study at Oxford University.

While academic excellence is a pre-condition for consideration for the Rhodes Scholarship, these scholarships are unique in that Rhodes Scholars are outstanding young students who excel academically, but very importantly, demonstrate leadership, are committed to making a difference in the world, and have the energy to fulfill their ambitions.

Dr Derik Coetzee, Department of Sport and Exercise Sciences

When you suddenly receive a call during a World Cup year and requested to come and assist in leading the Springboks, then you have to know, you have something to offer. This is what happened to Dr Derik Coetzee from our Department of Exercise and Sports Sciences. This year he once again became involved in the Springbok rugby team, after he had been die Bokke’s conditioning trainer from 2004 to 2007.

His primary task as conditioning head was to help in seeing to it that the Springboks reached their best level of play – psychologically, physically an emotionally. Amongst others, his duties included the optimisation of the players’ muscle and explosive power, speed, anaerobic ability and technical skills.

Jefferson J Dirks-Korkee en Mart Kotzé

Jefferson J Dirks-Korkee, from Willowmore in the Eastern Cape, and Mart Kotzé from Bloemfontein, recently made history by being the first students from our Department of Drama and Theatre Arts featuring in an Afrikaans South African film Skoonheid, the first ever to be shown at the Cannes Film Festival.

The movie won the Queer Palm Award at the 2011 Cannes International Film Festival, where Robert de Niro was the chairperson of the panel of judges.

Prof. Muriel Meiring, Department of Haematology and Cell Biology

Prof. Muriel Meiring, Specialist Scientist in our Department of Haematology and Cell Biology, is responsible for establishing the Specialised Haemostasis Laboratory at our university and the Universitas Hospital’s National Health Laboratory Service. She established this centre as a reference centre for Von Willebrand disease, a genetic bleeding disorder, in South Africa. This laboratory is internationally recognised for their research and as a reference laboratory.

Prof. Meiring develops and tests antithrombotic (anti-clotting) agents and her long list of publications, research awards and congress presentations has earned her a nomination for the Department of Science and Technology’s Distinguished Woman Scientist Award. She was one of two scientists of the National Health Laboratory Services (NHLS) to receive the award – Prof. Meiring being the only woman from our university.

Medical facilities from all over the country make use of her and her team’s expertise when testing for blood disorders and she hopes to expand the centre even further.

Melinda Jonker

Melinda Jonker, one of our third-year financial economic students, won the overall national competition of the prestigious Traders Trophy competition at the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE).

The competition, sponsored by Nedbank Capital and Oxyor in Amsterdam, requires participants to trade actual JSE-listed shares against one another on a simulated platform. The winner is determined not only by the highest profit, but also by the technique used throughout the trading session.

Christopher Diab, also a student from our Department of Economics, won the regional UFS competition.

ASSAf members

Seven of our academic colleagues have been elected as members of the Academy for Science of South Africa (ASSAf). They are Proff. Hendrik Swart, Physics; André Roodt, Chemistry; Zakkie Pretorius, Plant Sciences; Max Finkelstein, Mathematics; James du Preez, Microbial, Biochemical and Food Biotechnology; Maryke Labuschagne, Plant Breeding; and Neil Roos from our Postgraduate School.

Due main objective of the Academy is to promote and apply scientific thought in the service of the society, in order to determine the quality and scope of the role that the Academy can plays in the country’s life and progress, and eventually apply it

Other colleagues who are currently members of ASSAf include Proff. Jonathan Jansen, Vice-Chancellor and Rector; Johan Henning, Dean: Faculty of Law; and Frans Swanepoel, Senior Director: Research Development.

Samantha Renda-Dollman

Samantha Renda-Dollman, a BSc (Zoology) student on our Qwaqwa Campus, has obtained 19 distinctions out of the 22 modules she has written since 2009.

Her hard work earned Samantha the prestigious Dux Student award of our 2011 Annual Student Affairs Excellence Awards, held at our Qwaqwa Campus. This makes her the best overall academic performer of the entire student body on this campus.

Jaco Griessel

Jaco Griessel, an Honours student at our Odeion School for Music, received a prestigious Mandela Rhodes bursary for 2012 to study towards his Master’s degree next year.

Jaco, who is currently busy with his BMus Honours degree, is a performer par excellence, with many achievements to his name. In 2010, he received the Fanie Beetge Prize for the best undergraduate student in Systematic Music Studies. A year before, he received the same prize as best undergraduate student in Historic Music Studies. He shall continue his Master’s degree with Music Composition as field of specialisation at our university in 2012.

Prof. Helena van Zyl, UFS School of Management

Prof. Helena van Zyl, Director of the UFS Business School, was elected as President of the South African Association of Business Schools (SABSA). Since the beginning of 2010 she has been acting as president. Prof. Van Zyl is the first woman to occupy this position and also the first woman who is currently heading a business school in South Africa. She will serve SABSA as the president for the next two years.

Prof. Zakkie Pretorius, Department of Plant Sciences

Research by Prof. Zakkie Pretorius from our Department of Plant Sciences, has become part of Phase II of a mayor global project to combat deadly strains of a wheat pathogen that poses a threat to global food security.

Prof. Pretorius focuses on the identification of resistance in wheat to the stem rust disease and will assist breeders and geneticists in the accurate phenotyping of international breeding lines and mapping populations. In addition, Prof. Pretorius will support scientists from Africa with critical skills development through training programmes.

The Ug99 strain was discovered in Kenya in 1998, but are now also threatening major wheat-growing areas of Southern and Eastern Africa, the Central Asian Republics, the Caucasus, the Indian subcontinent, South America, Australia and North America.

Prof. Danie Strauss, research fellow in the Faculty of Humanities

Prof. Danie Strauss, a research fellow in our Faculty of the Humanities, won the Dooyeweerd Prize from the Board of the Association for Reformational Philosophies in Amsterdam. Prof. Strauss, former Dean of our Faculty of the Humanities and head of our Department of Philosophy, won the prize for his book Philosophy: Discipline of the Disciplines. The prize is awarded for work in the field of systematic philosophy.

Nida Jooste and Ryan Lamb, Abe Bailey Travel Bursary holders

Nida Jooste and Ryan Lamb are two of the proud recipients of Abe Bailey Travel Bursaries. Both students are academic achievers, but also excel in other fields. This is what set them apart from the rest of the applicants for the bursaries.

Ryan (23), a Medical Physics Honours student at our Faculty of Health Sciences, received the Senate’s Medal for the best Bachelor’s Degree student at the UFS. He was one of 100 students at the Brightest Young Minds Summit this year and was one of the 2008 delegates to the World Youth Forum, hosted by the International Association for Poetry and Solidarity in Italy.

Nida (21) is a very familiar face on our Bloemfontein Campus, as she served as the Deputy Chairperson of our Interim Student Council in 2011.

Loerie Award for Tarran Jacobs, Elizabeth Forson and Mafohlela Mahlatsi

The creativity of a group of students from our university was rewarded with a bronze Loerie Award after they won an internal competition. Tarran Jacobs, Elizabeth Forson and Mafohlela Mahlatsi, all third-year Marketing Communication students, won the award for an advertisement they designed for Cansa.

Each year, the third-year Marketing Communication students of our Department of Communication Science have the opportunity to flex their creative muscles in the Copy-writing class. The challenge is to design two advertisements for any charity organisation by applying the knowledge they gained from the subject in a practical way. The top three groups are then entered for the Loerie and Pendoring awards – two of the most prestigious awards in the South African advertising industry.

The top three groups designed advertisements for Cansa, the South African Blood Service and Crime Line.

Hendrik Kruger and Anke Malan walk away with awards at Pfizer UKZN Young Health Scientists Research Symposium

Two students in our Faculty of Health Sciences won awards at a Pfizer UKZN Young Health Scientists Research Symposium.

Hendrik Kruger, a medical student, represented his group, which won the clinical category with the paper “Injury patterns of occupants surviving motor vehicle accidents in the Free State”. This presentation was based on a study which is the first of its kind in South Africa.

The group with Anke Malan from our Department of Nutrition and Dietetics as presenter received the prize in the community-based category with the presentation ’Knowledge, practices and perceptions of undergraduate students at the UFS regarding the risk factors of osteoporoses’. Anke’s team was also nominated as the overall winner of the symposium. Presentations were delivered in three categories, namely clinical, community-based and laboratory research.

Prof. Louis Scott, Department of Plant Sciences

Prof. Louis Scott from our Department of Plant Sciences was formally rewarded the Fellowship of Royal Society of South Africa (RSSA).

Prof. Scott is an internationally recognised Palinologist at our university and a B-rated scientist.

Fellows of the RSSA are considered to be part of a very elite group of South African scientists who have achieved international acknowledgment.

Prof. Aldo Stroebel, International Academic Programmes in the Office of the Vice-Chancellor

Prof. Aldo Stroebel has been elected as a Founding Member of the South African Young Academy of Science (SAYAS).

He is Associate Professor in our Centre for Sustainable Agriculture, Rural Development and Extension, as well as the Director of International Academic Programmes in the Office of the Vice-Chancellor.

The Young Academy has as its objectives to represent young scientists in advising the government on science and technology policy and human resource development. In addition, they will prepare the SAYAS to join the Global Young Academy (GYA) to engage with high-level international bodies, including the World Economic Forum.

Prof. Lodewyk Kock, Department of Microbial, Biochemical and Food Biotechnology

Prof. Lodewyk Kock was a sought-after keynote speaker at various conferences and seminars around the globe on our nanotechnology breakthrough research.

He delivered keynote lectures at international conferences of repute in the USA, China and Greece. In the USA he delivered a the keynote address at the Conference & Exhibition on Pharmaceutical Regulatory Affairs (Pharma-2011), held in Baltimore, and was a keynote speaker at the 2nd World Congress on Biotechnology in Philadelphia. He was also invited to present various lectures abroad.

He posted two video lectures in e-conference format on his research on the web page of the journal Translational Biomedicine. He was also invited by the International Society of Translational Medicine (ISTM) to head their “Molecular Imaging” Division.

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