The challenges facing disabled African students in the UK

Internationalisation in the form of students moving from institutions in the Global South to the Global North offers wide educational opportunities and gives students the chance to learn about diverse cultures and languages.

Currently, it takes place at a time when there are efforts to dismantle unequal power relations between the Global South and North, to embrace hybridity and the “hospitality of ideas” – working together collaboratively and in harmony to solve the problems of the world.

However, without wanting to undermine the opportunities internationalisation offers to international students, there are also negatives that cannot be overlooked. In cases where mobility requires physical relocation from an institution in the Global South to an institution in the Global North, lack of adequate funding, culture shock, advanced technology and language limitations are some of the setbacks that can negatively affect the educational outcomes of the students who move.

And, while the benefits and challenges of international student mobility have been more widely discussed, there has been limited consideration of students with disabilities who, like all other students, also benefit from an international experience as global citizens.

This situation of students with disabilities is different. Although they have all of the same needs and requirements as other students, they also have unique additional needs because of impairment-related disadvantages.

Moving to universities in the North from the South – specifically, from African universities – students with disabilities are, on the one hand, afforded opportunities they do not have in their home institutions, but, at the same time, confront challenges they would not experience had they been in the universities in their own countries.

Policies of inclusion in UK universities

Universities in the North have developed policies of inclusion which are implemented to the full advantage of students with disabilities. The United Kingdom, for example, has the Disability Discrimination Act of 1995 (DDA), which includes cancer and HIV in its sphere of reference.

In terms of the act, those with disabilities not only have the benefit of inclusion, but their health needs are catered for. By virtue of their disabilities, more especially physical impairments, students with disabilities can be prone to various medical conditions. However, due to the application of the DDA in UK universities, they have the opportunity for their medical needs to be addressed.

In addition to the DDA, there is the UK Special Education and Non-Discrimination Act of 2001 (SENDA), which specifically provides support for students with disabilities. Institutions of higher education are obligated to make “reasonable adjustments” for students with disabilities to be included in terms of the act. Since its enactment, there has been increased inclusion of students with disabilities in the context of higher learning in the UK.

Policies of inclusion in the UK are not only on paper, but are effectively implemented. Most institutions have developed individual institutional disability policies, which specifically address admission. The responsible stakeholders in the UK’s institutions have developed a monitoring system for the implementation of SENDA.

They use statutory agents and civil courts to enforce the policy in society in general and, in higher education contexts, specifically, anyone found disregarding the act faces prosecution. Though there are also policies of inclusion in the Global South, and in African universities, implementation tends to be less effective.

South Africa, for example, has very good and comprehensive policies around inclusive education but there is a discrepancy between policy and practice. As a result, students with disabilities of different categories and severity continue to confront a number of barriers that limit their access to learning.

Thus, when students move from the Global South to universities in the UK, they are afforded the opportunity of full inclusion, which is influenced by policies that are well implemented. When fully included like other students, students with disabilities have the opportunity of acquiring soft skills such as self-motivation, self-confidence, independence and intercultural competence, which are skills that are usually acquired through the international experience and are very important for the job market globally.

Infrastructural challenges

Infrastructure in African higher education institutions is generally a challenge, particularly for students with physical and total visual impairments. During colonialism, which is when many universities were established, it was unimaginable that students with disabilities could be found in higher education institutions. Even with the broadening of access to African higher education, those with disabilities are still excluded in terms of infrastructure.

In cases where there are accommodations within the built environment, they often take the form of the bare minimum.

At present, efforts aimed at renovation and retrofitting are being made in some institutions of higher education in South Africa, but there are still some lecture rooms, libraries, toilets, door handles or lifts that are inaccessible to students with physical and motor limitations and visual loss.

This situation limits the movement of students with specific categories of disability because they have to take the longer routes to lecture rooms, libraries and toilets, losing time that is meant for learning.

There have been instances of retrofitting and building of new structures as informed by the principles of Universal Design in some institutions in South Africa. However, some institutions have specific buildings which they are not permitted to alter or retrofit because they are preserved for their architectural design and heritage.

It is argued that full accessibility to students with disabilities is a dream in a long pipeline and might not be achieved soon enough because of the high costs involved.

Besides the built environment, public transport is still a major barrier for students with physical disabilities and total visual loss in African universities. Where provision of accessible transport is made, it tends to be limited and provided on the basis of “reasonable accommodation”: the assumption that students with disabilities are a minority in institutions of higher education.

For that reason, students miss lectures or get to lectures late because they have to wait for a single accessible bus. Students who use wheelchairs and those with low vision are also negatively affected as they may use public transport to and from institutions of higher education.

The situation is different when students with physical and visual impairment move to the institutions in the UK. Infrastructure in UK institutions of higher education is much more accessible to students with physical disabilities and total visual loss. Effective policy had also influenced adjustments to infrastructure. There has been the installation of ramps at entrances, lifts and widened entrances.

Institutions of higher learning in the UK have an obligation to adjust their infrastructure even before students with disabilities come in. In essence, the Universal Design is applied from the outset to retrofitting old buildings so that all diverse students, including those with disabilities, can access the built environment as it is designed to cater for their needs before they even come to the universities.

Technological advancements are playing a crucial role in giving students with disabilities the opportunity of studying with universities in the UK without having to relocate.

There are several benefits to virtual learning: students with mobility challenges such as those in wheelchairs and who have total visual loss no longer lose time negotiating unusual physical terrain in new universities. Their time is directed towards learning, hence the acquisition of knowledge and skills for the workplace without many of the mobility challenges.

Funding needs

In addition to impairment-related challenges, students with disabilities face challenges common to all students starting at a new university: culture shock, a feeling of non-acceptance, difficulties adjusting to the environment and communication challenges.

In order to adjust to the move from Africa to a UK university, disabled students require disability funding. The more severe the impairment of the student, the more challenges he or she is likely to confront. Severe impairment, whatever the category of disability, requires extra support to make it possible for a student to function optimally. For example, when the student has a severe physical impairment resulting from cerebral palsy, he or she may not be able to take notes and would require a scribe who will assist him or her.

In terms of funding, such a student would require double the allocation in terms of accommodation, and a visa plus daily expenses for a scribe. This is a critical issue as funding for higher education, generally, and disability funding, in particular, has continued to decrease. It means that the severity of a disability can limit the student’s mobility and prevent a student from the Global South from studying in a university in the North.

The issue of funding is no longer an issue solely for the Global South and the African university, but a global issue that also negatively affects the universities in the UK. Thus, students with disabilities confront the challenge of being excluded in student mobility programmes because of the extra funding they require.

Communication

Students with severe hearing impairment who use sign language as means of communication may confront difficulties with communication, especially in the first days of relocation to universities in the UK.

Sign Language in every country tends to vary. When a student with total hearing loss first gets to country that has a different national sign language, he or she is limited in terms of communication. Limitation in communication negatively impacts learning, and there could be a delay in the completion of the programme as the student with a hearing impairment learns the sign language specific to the country in which he or she has gone to study.

While there are opportunities for students with disabilities from African universities to study in the universities in the UK, it has been shown that, at present, students’ mobility from the Global South to the North is not without challenges.

Among other countries such as Australia, Canada and the Netherlands, the United Kingdom has reduced the recruitment of students from the Global South in general. This move will negatively affect the mobility of students with disabilities.

While there is an emphasis on inclusion in the Global North, and policies are well implemented to support the inclusion of students with disabilities in the UK universities, students with disabilities still face the reality of impairment-related disadvantages.

The recruitment of students with disabilities requires more funding, special provisions, tailored services, and access arrangements not required by students without disabilities. It makes mobility from African universities to the UK universities complicated and difficult.

Sibonokuhle Ndlovu is a lecturer of disability and gender at the Ali Mazrui Centre for Higher Education Studies at the University of Johannesburg.