Wheelchair users, access and exclusion in South African higher education
Background: South Africa’s Constitution guarantees everyone, including persons with disabilities, the right to education. A variety of laws are in place obliging higher education institutions to provide appropriate physical access to education sites for all. In practice, however, many buildings rema...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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AOSIS
2017-09-01
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| Series: | African Journal of Disability |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://ajod.org/index.php/ajod/article/view/353 |
| _version_ | 1818139276643139584 |
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| author | Desire Chiwandire Louise Vincent |
| author_facet | Desire Chiwandire Louise Vincent |
| author_sort | Desire Chiwandire |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background: South Africa’s Constitution guarantees everyone, including persons with disabilities, the right to education. A variety of laws are in place obliging higher education institutions to provide appropriate physical access to education sites for all. In practice, however, many buildings remain inaccessible to people with physical disabilities.
Objectives: To describe what measures South African universities are taking to make their built environments more accessible to students with diverse types of disabilities, and to assess the adequacy of such measures.
Method: We conducted semi-structured in-depth face-to-face interviews with disability unit staff members (DUSMs) based at 10 different public universities in South Africa.
Results: Challenges with promoting higher education accessibility for wheelchair users include the preservation and heritage justification for failing to modify older buildings, ad hoc approaches to creating accessible environments and failure to address access to toilets, libraries and transport facilities for wheelchair users.
Conclusion: South African universities are still not places where all students are equally able to integrate socially. DUSMs know what ought to be done to make campuses more accessible and welcoming to students with disabilities and should be empowered to play a leading role in sensitising non-disabled members of universities, to create greater awareness of, and appreciation for, the multiple ways in which wheelchair user students continue to be excluded from full participation in university life. South African universities need to adopt a systemic approach to inclusion, which fosters an understanding of inclusion as a fundamental right rather than as a luxury. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-11T10:25:31Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-4a25fe28d12f4e86a16223627d9283a5 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2223-9170 2226-7220 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-11T10:25:31Z |
| publishDate | 2017-09-01 |
| publisher | AOSIS |
| record_format | Article |
| series | African Journal of Disability |
| spelling | doaj.art-4a25fe28d12f4e86a16223627d9283a52022-12-22T01:11:11ZengAOSISAfrican Journal of Disability2223-91702226-72202017-09-0160e1e910.4102/ajod.v6i0.353126Wheelchair users, access and exclusion in South African higher educationDesire Chiwandire0Louise Vincent1Department of Political and International Studies, Rhodes UniversityDepartment of Political and International Studies, Rhodes UniversityBackground: South Africa’s Constitution guarantees everyone, including persons with disabilities, the right to education. A variety of laws are in place obliging higher education institutions to provide appropriate physical access to education sites for all. In practice, however, many buildings remain inaccessible to people with physical disabilities. Objectives: To describe what measures South African universities are taking to make their built environments more accessible to students with diverse types of disabilities, and to assess the adequacy of such measures. Method: We conducted semi-structured in-depth face-to-face interviews with disability unit staff members (DUSMs) based at 10 different public universities in South Africa. Results: Challenges with promoting higher education accessibility for wheelchair users include the preservation and heritage justification for failing to modify older buildings, ad hoc approaches to creating accessible environments and failure to address access to toilets, libraries and transport facilities for wheelchair users. Conclusion: South African universities are still not places where all students are equally able to integrate socially. DUSMs know what ought to be done to make campuses more accessible and welcoming to students with disabilities and should be empowered to play a leading role in sensitising non-disabled members of universities, to create greater awareness of, and appreciation for, the multiple ways in which wheelchair user students continue to be excluded from full participation in university life. South African universities need to adopt a systemic approach to inclusion, which fosters an understanding of inclusion as a fundamental right rather than as a luxury.https://ajod.org/index.php/ajod/article/view/353wheelchair usershigher education transformationuniversitiesbuilt environmentaccessibilityuniversal designSouth Africastudents with physical disabilities |
| spellingShingle | Desire Chiwandire Louise Vincent Wheelchair users, access and exclusion in South African higher education African Journal of Disability wheelchair users higher education transformation universities built environment accessibility universal design South Africa students with physical disabilities |
| title | Wheelchair users, access and exclusion in South African higher education |
| title_full | Wheelchair users, access and exclusion in South African higher education |
| title_fullStr | Wheelchair users, access and exclusion in South African higher education |
| title_full_unstemmed | Wheelchair users, access and exclusion in South African higher education |
| title_short | Wheelchair users, access and exclusion in South African higher education |
| title_sort | wheelchair users access and exclusion in south african higher education |
| topic | wheelchair users higher education transformation universities built environment accessibility universal design South Africa students with physical disabilities |
| url | https://ajod.org/index.php/ajod/article/view/353 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT desirechiwandire wheelchairusersaccessandexclusioninsouthafricanhighereducation AT louisevincent wheelchairusersaccessandexclusioninsouthafricanhighereducation |