Wheelchair users, access and exclusion in South Africa higher education

Chiwandire, Desire; Vincent, Louise

Title: Wheelchair users, access and exclusion in South Africa higher education
Creator: Chiwandire, Desire
Creator: Vincent, Louise
Date Issued: 2017
Date: 2017
Type: article
Type: text
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/59984
Identifier: vital:27717
Identifier: doi: 10.4102/ajod.v6i0.353
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.
Format: 9 pages
Format: pdf
Language: English
Relation: African Journal of Disability
Relation: Chiwandire, D. and Vincent, L., 2017. Wheelchair users, access and exclusion in South African higher education. African journal of disability, 6(1), pp.1-9
Relation: African Journal of Disability 6 vol. 1 no. 2017 2226-7220
Rights: African Journal of Disability
Rights: Use of this resource is governed by the terms and conditions of the African Journal of Disability Open Access Policy

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Vincent, Louise (Prof)

RU Department of Political and International Studies

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