Although South Africa has numerous impressive policies for inclusion, the unfortunate fact on the ground is that the rhetoric of inclusion is still not reflected in reality. The majority of students with visual impairments are still in special schools where they have to contend with very poor learning conditions. For example, in 2015, 17 out of…

Globally, education of children with disabilities increasingly occurs in inclusive school settings, requiring specialised teacher education. Scholars emphasise relational and instrumental skills, to overcome prejudice and exclusion. Visual impairment (VI) is emotionally evocative, presenting particular challenges to inclusion. Using data from…

Background: Despite anatomically correct models (ACMs) being recommended internationally for their ability to serve as real-life, age-appropriate, and practical models in comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) for learners with visual impairment, there is still limited research exploring South African teachers' views regarding their use.…

The purpose of the qualitative study on which this article is based was to explore the experiences of students with visual impairments registered at an Open Distance and e-Learning University in South Africa, through a phenomenological research design. Literature was reviewed on student support in distance education and concepts from the critical…

Following the ongoing study to develop a Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) curriculum for visually impaired learners in South Africa, teachers reported hesitance from parents/guardians to inform their visually impaired children about sex. As such, this study sought to explore parents/guardians' involvement in their children's psychosexual…

Training teachers of learners with visual impairment (VI) emphasise instrumental skills such as curriculum adaptation and assistive technology, at times ignoring anxieties and attitudes within teachers surrounding disability. South Africa's education system faces a huge backlog in VI teacher training, which is being addressed by intensive short…

Diversity in education is not about different races only; in the South African context it also refers, for instance, to types of schools or different learning styles. Inclusivity in education thus refers to all learners, regardless of their abilities, being noticed and encouraged to share and learn in the same space. However, the South African…

Within the last two decades, the South African government drafted impressive policies to fully include and accommodate students with visual impairments within higher education. However, in interviews with 23 students with visual impairments at two South African universities, we found that legislation has yet to fully permeate the embodied…

Despite public outcry, South Africa has decided to roll out comprehensive sexuality education in schools. Currently, however, there are no scripted lesson plans for teachers of learners with visual impairment. Local literature suggests that the current sexuality education curriculum fails to engage with sexuality diversity and is imbued with…

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tools provide an ideal mechanism by which students can interact closely with their lecturers in an open distance learning (ODL) context. This is especially true for students with disabilities who require access through alternative formats. This paper demonstrates teaching and learning practices in an…

Academic libraries should be accessible to all students and relevant stakeholders. Students with print disabilities are found in many universities worldwide. This article examines the services and tools that are available at the North-West University (NWU) in South Africa. Literature was used to identify how services, signage, and tools that…

In higher education systems, equal importance must be given to differently abled students. However, not all educational institutions have infrastructure and facilities to admit these students even though accessibility and support for these students is growing. There are many schemes, facilities, services, and financial assistance available to…

In South Africa, scholarship on the teaching practice learning experiences for students with disabilities is a relatively new area of sociological inquiry. Social justice arrangements in the South African Higher Education policy frameworks identify the equity imperative as being of critical importance for social redress and transformation for all…