Browsing by Subject "disability studies"

Now showing 1 - 14 of 14
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    Development of the Monitoring Disability in Society Post Graduate Diploma Course for Online Delivery
    (2016-04-04) Nwanze, Ikechukwu
    The Monitoring Disability in Society (AHS4118 MDIS) postgraduate diploma course has been adapted with a blended online component using teaching and learning technologies. This online component ran from when the students were at UCT physically (July 2015) to end of the course (November 2015). The course had a total of 18 students from within South Africa, Namibia and Botswana. The engagement of the postgraduate students in the online space has been remarkable and at the end of the course in November 2015, there was a 93% participation level for the forum and blog Vula online engagements. This was measured based on student posting and comment engagement with their peers for the 4 online activities we had in the course. This resource contains a report on the process of moving the course to a blended model and ten student outputs.
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    Disability and social change: a South African agenda
    (2011) Watermeyer, Brian; Swartz, Leslie; Lorenzo, Theresa; Schneider, Marguerite; Priestley, Mark
    This powerful volume represents the broadest engagement with disability issues in South Africa yet. It covers a wide range of perspectives of disability, from theoretical perspectives on disability, to disability in education, to disability's relationship with and effect on people living in poverty. This text can be used to support students in disability studies especially in the South African context.
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    Disability representation and portrayal in selected South African soap operas: a content analysis
    (2020) Swarts, Elsonia; Ige, Busayo
    The absence of or stereotypical portrayal of persons with disabilities in the mainstream media has negative and far-reaching consequences not only for an identity of disability but for how non-disabled persons relate to persons with disabilities. Conversely, positive media portrayal and representation has the potential to challenge stereotypes and spread counter-narratives on a wide scale. This study was motivated by a perceived dearth of research into the representation of persons with disabilities in soap operas, which has been studied minimally in South Africa. The goal of the study is to contribute towards an understanding of media representation of disability and its implications in South Africa, specifically through soap opera, by investigating how South African television soap operas represent and portray disability and disability issues daily to their viewers. Drawing on relevant disability identity theory, this study used a qualitative content case study analysis of portrayal and representation of disability in two South African local soap operas, namely 7de Laan and Generations: The Legacy. These soap operas are popular among South African television audiences. The soap opera content was interpreted using qualitative content analysis by exploring the implicit and explicit representation of disability in the soap opera scenes and episodes. Contrary to the historical representation of persons with disabilities, the data revealed that persons with actual disabilities were used in the soap operas as opposed to non-disabled persons acting as if they had a disability. This positively gives a voice to persons with disabilities. However, the scenes and episodes where these characters appear are minimal and short in duration, diminishing any positive intent envisioned by including these characters in the first place. In addition, the themes that emerged from the study indicate a positive representation of persons with disabilities as contributors to the economy through their participation in work and business. At the same time, the stereotypical portrayal of ‘super cripple' in the same scenes shows how the positive representation can be rendered futile with a negative one in the same episode or scene, highlighting the importance and necessity of engaging with media representations on how they may impact individuals with disabilities in a very diverse society like South Africa.
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    Disability, Climate Change and Sustainable Development
    (2016-11-03) Judith, McKenzie; Ziervogel, Gina; Mdlulwa, Ncediwe
    The aim of this project is to develop an open education resource that explores the relationship between disability and development within the framework of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Climate Change. The Millennium Development Goals (MDG’s) were heavily criticized by the disability sector as they did not have a focus on one of the most vulnerable groups in development, people with disabilities. This experience led to a heightened awareness of disability in development and an eagerness of the disability sector to participate more actively in the development of the sustainable development goals. This project aimed to bring together experts at UCT in climate change and sustainable development to inform disability practitioners from different sectors of the possible impacts of climate changes on people with disabilities so that there can be informed debate and advocacy with regard to disability inclusion within the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
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    Education for All Week 1 - Our model of inclusive education
    (2018-06-01) Ohajunwa, Chioma
    In this video, Chioma Ohajunwa discusses the model of inclusivity that will be used in the Education for All MOOC. She outlines the inter-related spheres of the home environment, the school, and the community, and how these are involved in socially inclusive education practices. She then outlines the different weeks in the course and their specific focuses on the different aspects of socially inclusive education. This video is located within Week 1 of the Education for All MOOC.
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    Education for All Week 2 - Family focus: The social context of disability
    (2018-06-01) Ohajunwa, Chioma
    In this video, Chioma Ohajunwa discusses the role of the family and the home environment in how disability is understood and conceptualised. She discusses how the existing beliefs and understandings of disability within the family environment affects how disabled people are thought about and cared for, particularly when it comes to learning. She introduces how the attitudes and existing prejudices and beliefs of the family will affect how the education and care for disabled children will manifest.
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    Education for All Week 3 - Creating an inclusive school
    (2018-06-01) Ohajunwa, Chioma
    In this video, Chioma Ohajunwa introduces the focus for Week 3 of the Education for All MOOC, looking at how schools become inclusive, exploring support systems within the school to support this transition. The relevance of involving all aspects of the school community and methods of facilitating this shift to inclusion is discussed, supported by samples of good practise.
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    Education for All Week 3 - Job's story
    (2018-06-01) Nseibo, Job
    In this video, Nseibo Job Kofi discusses his experiences with education as a child growing up with polio meningitis in Ghana. He discusses how the attitudes of his family affected the kinds of care he was able to access, and how his educational achievements led to changes in how he was perceived by his family. He discusses his experience with inaccessible higher education institutions, and ends with asserting that children with disabilities should remain in mainstream education where learning environments can be made more accessible with sufficient planning and forethought.
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    Education for All Week 4 - Community inclusion
    (2018-06-01) Nwanze, Ikechukwu
    In this video, Ikechukwu Nwanze, a lecturer in Disability Studies in the University of Cape Town, who specialises in exploring the availability and usability of electronic and online tools for learning, discusses the role of community resources (people, devices and infrastructure) in supporting learning. He emphasises that schools should make links with the existing community organisations and resources who can assist children with disabilities in their learning. He also speaks about the importance of educating the community about children with disabilities in order to change negative perceptions towards them, and how to involve local authorities and community leaders to act as change-makers to support inclusive education. He discusses the role of community health workers who engage in Community-Based Rehabilitation (CBR) and how they can assist people with disabilities in taking control of their own lives, as well as providing links to other health support networks and services and identifying children and adults with less-obvious learning difficulties so they can get the assistance they need in a timeous fashion.
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    Education for All Week 6 - Final words
    (2018-06-01) McKenzie, Judith; Ohajunwa, Chioma
    In this video, Judith McKenzie and Chioma Ohajunwa discuss the highlights of the Educational for All MOOC and the community engagement around it. They discuss the kinds of feedback and experiences shared by the MOOC participants. Judith discusses how inclusive education can benefit not just children with disabilities (and their families) but also assist children without disabilities, particularly in fostering a greater sense of acceptance of diversity. They discuss the importance of a community-based approach to learning, and ask that the participants of the MOOC carry on their learning and engagement with each other after the MOOC in order to sustain the Community of Practice that has begun to emerge around inclusive education.
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    Factors that influence the inclusion and participation of disabled students in higher education
    (2024) Abrahams, Dureyah; Lorenzo, Theresa; Grabriels, Sumaya
    This document summaries and synthesises the results of an investigation aimed to explore factors that influence disabled students' inclusion and participation in higher education in the Western Cape. Disabled students face many challenges in education in South Africa due to inadequate accessibility and inclusion. There is minimal research of disabled students' experiences in South Africa who succeed in entering a university, and the voices of disabled South African students are underrepresented. The aim of this study is to explore the factors that influence disabled students' inclusion and participation in higher education. The objectives of this study are to: ● Explore how products and technology influence participation and inclusion ● Explore how the natural environment influences inclusion and participation ● Understand how the nature of support and relationships and attitudes of different role players influence inclusion and participation ● Determine how services, systems and policies influence inclusion and participation ● Suggest what changes need to be implemented to improve inclusion and participation This study used a qualitative single-case study research design, with an emancipatory disability research lens. Data was gathered through four focus groups with a total of ten disabled students at the University of Cape Town (UCT), in the Western Cape of South Africa. The participants identified with varying disabilities, genders, age, course enrolment and races. The findings that emerged relate to two themes. Theme 1, “Accessibility equals success”, uncovers three sub-themes “availability of resources”, “make it feel as inclusive as possible”, and “dualities of remote learning”, which highlight disabled students' needs for assistive technology and financial support, the inaccessible physical spaces and facilities, and the experiences of remote learning in the COVID-19 pandemic. Theme 2, “fostering inclusion”, focussed on four sub-themes, “supporting well-being”, “Disability Services played a vital role”, “I am asking for accommodation”, and “being there emotionally”. These sub-themes highlight the support systems that disabled students valued, such as the Disability Services of the Office of Inclusivity and Change (OIC), the Student Wellness services, peer and family support. There remains to be a general experience of exclusion in spaces and systems at UCT, as disabled students detail experiences of isolation, stigma, stress and othering. Similarly, social exclusion to the spaces, xii resources and culture of university life is a common experience. This social exclusion is noted as contributing to disabled students' declining mental health, quality of life and low feelings of belonging. This study argues that disabled students require a holistic approach to inclusion, where academic, physical and social inclusive practices and services are improved. Further to this, there is a need for anchoring disability transformation in the UCT Vision 2030, with the inclusion of the voices and experiences of disabled students.
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    Human rights, disability, and higher education : conference held at UCT Middle Campus, Cape Town from 25 to 26 January 2003
    (University of Cape Town. Intercultural and Diversity Studies of Southern Africa (iNCUDISA), 2014-09-19) University of Cape Town. Intercultural and Diversity Studies of Southern Africa (iNCUDISA); Van Zyl, Mikki
    This report will be of value to Disability Studies scholars, educational theorists and researchers, as well as those interested in the construction of disability within the context of transformation in post-apartheid South Africa. Over the past three decades, the discipline of Disability Studies has emerged as an independent field within the social science research and theoretical arena. Questions surrounding the nature and origin of (oppressive) societal responses to impairment - ranging from service installations to bureaucratic policies, linguistic conventions to exclusionary practices - are the primary concern of the field. Disability Studies attempts to examine and debunk the 'disabled' identity as one ascribed to individuals arbitrarily, yet selectively designated as disabled. Broadly, key theoretical positions within the field assert that the negatively valued and ascribed group identity of being 'disabled' is one which serves, through the operation of complex ideological machinery, to justify and obscure the systematic exclusion of persons so designated from equitable participation in the production of culture. This study looks at dynamics of human rights and disability within higher education institutions from this perspective.
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    TEDI 3 Week 3 - Conversations with Teachers about Accessible Teaching and Learning
    (2019-06-01) Watermeyer, Brian; Daniels, Samantha; Bongiwe, Daniels
    In this video, Brian Watermeyer interviews Samantha Daniels and about their experiences in dealing with accessible and inaccessible learning materials in the classroom. Samantha, a teacher in a special school, discusses the frustration of working with inadequate materials and the need to work around insufficient resources with very young visually impaired learners, and discusses some of the strategies and workarounds she has developed in her class which includes partially-sighted and totally blind learners. She also discusses the difficulties of working with timeframes that may not take into the account the needs of students with visual impairment and colleagues who may not be fully supportive of the needs of special-needs teachers. Bongiwe Daniels, the principal of a special-needs school in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa, reflects on her experience of dealing with the infrastructural deficits that had affected the school when she became principal, and how they negatively affected the ability for learners to participate in classroom activities. She discusses how she reached out to civil society and aid organisations in order to raise funds and supplies to provide the resources necessarily to provide quality education. The panel then discusses how to appropriately use (and the skills required to use) assistive technology, such as smartphone and software.
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    Transfer-related experiences of people with spinal cord injury living in low socioeconomic, independent living communities in Johannesburg as seen in the context of relationships of personal assistance - a phenomenological study
    (2019) Jessen, Ronel; Watermeyer, Brian P
    This dissertation begins from the research question “How do the nature and availability of transfers influence the lived experiences of people with spinal cord injury (PWSCI) in low socio-economic independent living communities (ILC) in the context of personal assistance relationships?” Transfers here, refers to the need for people with severe mobility impairments to be lifted or otherwise assisted in moving between locations such as bed and wheelchair, wheelchair and toilet, wheelchair and vehicle, and so forth. “Personal assistance means that users of such service exercise the maximum control over how services are organised, and custom-design their services according to their individual needs, capabilities, life circumstances and aspirations” (Ratzka, 1992, p.1). PWSCI, as is the interest of this study, have unique insights into their disability and their context. In terms of international human rights conventions, PWSCI are entitled to have control over their lives and therefore must participate in the form of consultancy on issues that concern them directly. Many PWSCI are dependent on assistance from others for transfers during activities of daily living (ADL). ADL refers to everyday activities such as rising, dressing, washing, toileting, eating, and so on. In the lives of PWSCI, access to the means of performing ADL equates, in reality, to access to the means of survival. In low socio-economic communities, it is likely that personal assistance is performed by unpaid family members or friends, or low remunerated untrained personal assistance providers, rather than paid, professionally trained employees. Unpaid / low remunerated and untrained personal support has implications for i) the ready availability of transfers, ii) the safety of transfers, and iii) reciprocal dynamics of care and accommodation within the relationship. PWSCI represent a large portion of the South African population. Besides those already stated, a body of research shows that PWSCI may face particular limitations and obstacles in fulfilling of ordinary or normal life. These obstacles may include negative attitudes, structures of normalcy and ableism, and environmental barriers to access for PWSCI. These obstacles may influence how PWSCI construct their identity within relationships of personal assistance. Also, the voices and own experiences from the perceptions of PWSCI are not always heard and not given political recognition. This research aimed to explore the transfer-related experiences of PWSCI, in the context of personal assistance relationships, during activities of daily living. A qualitative study was conducted, and focused on the experiences and perceptions of nine PWSCI living in low socio-economic independent living communities (ILC) in Johannesburg. A semi-structured interview was used for data collection, and a Qualitative Thematic Analysis was applied to analyse the data. Ethics of Care (EoC) was a useful theoretical approach adopted in exploring the lived experiences of PWSCI in the interest of their taking back agency within relationships of personal assistance, being free of any assumptions and perceptions about impairment and their ability. Furthermore, the aim of an EoC approach is to foster inclusion, respect and dignity, and systems of influence and power, influencing the experiences and personal perceptions of PWSCI living in low socio-economic independent living communities (ILC). The results of this study revealed that PWSCI find living with a spinal cord injury not being a barrier to living a fulfilling life but instead, emphasised barriers created through stigma and negative attitudes from relationships within personal assistance and communities as a whole. These serious barriers to self-expression and fulfilment come in the form of stigma of disability, ableism, negative perceptions, and the pervasiveness of the medical model. How PWSCI feel about their belonging in their society and taking back their agency in relationships of personal assistance, was found to be representative of how they respond to negative social constructions of disability within care relationships, and their communities as experienced during daily transferrelated activities. The study revealed the importance of the need for accredited training for personal assistance providers to prevent secondary injury for PWSCI and care providers alike, and to create conducive working environments for care providers. Conducive working environments may include body mechanic training, appropriate assistive devices for safe lifting and moving of PWSCI. Furthermore, conducive working environments may contribute to positive attitudes and perceptions toward PWSCI. Access to allocated state resources will facilitate PWSCI to procure accredited, trained, paid care. The vocation of personal assistance providers should be organised, available and accredited.