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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

Meet our Council: Ndaba Ntsele – Inspiring entrepreneurs
2016-04-19

Description: Ndaba Ntsele Tags: Ndaba Ntsele

Mr Ntsele
Photo: Stephen Collett

 To call Mr Ndaba Ntsele just a businessman seems like a bit of an understatement. The Executive Chairman and co-founder of Pamodzi Group Limited lives and breathes business, entrepreneurship, and wealth creation. He is also a member of the Council of the University of the Free State (UFS) since September 2013.

His greatest passion is entrepreneurship, and sharing his ideas of self-employment with young (and old) South Africans. “I preach self-employment wherever I go. Everyone knows that unemployment is a major problem in our country. However, people often expect the government or big corporations to provide them with jobs. I like to influence people to start thinking about working for themselves, thereby creating opportunities for employing others,” he says.

His entrepreneurial drive extends even to his time on the UFS Council. Now in his second term, Mr Ntsele has been well placed to get a sense of the kind of contribution the university and its students could make to South Africa, and even further afield.  

“In addition to training students for all the other important industries in South Africa, I think the UFS is ideally situated to create agricultural entrepreneurs. The Free State is one of South Africa’s prime agricultural areas, after all. Food security is an issue worldwide, and it is an area in which we could make a real contribution by training food producers, food technologists, and agricultural specialists. In fact, I think the UFS could become the leading agricultural institution in the country.”

Being the best is something that he strives for continually, while high standards are not something he shirks. In fact, he believes that Council members should hold an institution accountable for maintaining the highest standards possible, whether it is in governance, financials, procurement, or any other areas of importance in an institution.

As the executive chairman of a multi-billion African-owned group with assets across the globe, Mr Ntsele does not have a great deal of free time. However, he enjoys sitting down with MBA students and graduates to share his views about entrepreneurship.

“If I can change their mind-set from ‘others must employ me’ to ‘I need to create my own employment’, then I will feel as if I have accomplished something,” he says.

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