Between 10% and 15% of the world's population are thought to be disabled. The 2006 United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is an example of emerging global policy architecture for human rights for disabled people. Article 24 states that disabled people should receive the support required to facilitate their effective education. In research, links between higher education access, equalities and disability are being explored by scholars of the sociology of higher education. However, with the exception of some small-scale studies from Zimbabwe, South Africa, Rwanda, Namibia, Uganda and Pakistan, literature tends to come from the global North. Yet there is a toxic correlation between disability and poverty – especially in the global South. This article is based on a review of the global literature on disability in higher education and interview findings from the project ‘Widening Participation in Higher Education in Ghana and Tanzania: developing an Equity Scorecard’, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and the Department for International Development. A central finding was that while disability was associated with constraints, misrecognition, frustration, exclusion and even danger, students' agency, advocacy and achievement in higher education offered opportunities for transforming spoiled identities.
References
1.
AbberleyP. (1997) The Limits of Classical Social Theory in the Analysis and Transformation of Disablement (Can This Really Be the End; to Be Stuck inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again?), in BartonL. & OliverM. (Eds) Disability Studies: past, present and future, pp. 25–44. Leeds: Disability Press.
2.
Adams-SpinkG. (2003) Being Different: Ugandan students on disability and relationships, Ouch!, 27 November.
3.
4.
AgbenyegaJ. (2003) The Power of Labeling Discourse in the Construction of Disability in Ghana. Paper presented at New Zealand Association for Research in Education/Australian Association for Research in Education Joint Conference, Auckland, New Zealand, 29 November-3 December. http://www.aare.edu.au/03pap/agb03245.pdf
AlbertB.DubeA.K. & Riis-HansenT.C. (2005) Has Disability Been Mainstreamed into Development Cooperation?Disability Knowledge and Research Programme. http://hpod.pmhclients.com/pdf/Mainstreamed.pdf
BoothT.AinscowM.Black-HawkinsK.VaughanM. & ShawL. (2000) The Index for Inclusion: developing learning and participation in schools. Bristol: Centre for Studies in Inclusive Education.
ChataikaT. (2010) Inclusion of Disabled Students in Higher Education in Zimbabwe, in LaviaJ. & MooreM. (Eds) Cross-cultural Perspectives on Policy and Practice: decolonizing community contexts, pp. 116–131. New York: Routledge.
14.
CohenD.de la VegaR. & WatsonG. (2001) Advocacy for Social Justice. Bloomfield, CT: Kumarian Press.
15.
ColeridgeP. (1993) Disability, Liberation and Development. Oxford: Oxfam.
16.
Commission for Africa (2005) Our Common Interest: report of the Commission for Africa. London: Commission for Africa.
17.
CorkerM. (1998) Disability Discourse in a Postmodern World, in ShakespeareT. (Ed.) The Disability Reader: social science perspectives. London: Continuum.
18.
CroftA. (2006) Prepared for Diversity? Teacher Education for Lower Primary Classes in Malawi, in LittleA.W. (Ed.) Education for All and Multigrade Teaching: challenges and opportunities, pp. 103–126. Dordrecht: Springer.
19.
CroftA. (2010) Including Disabled Children in Learning: challenges in developing countries. Brighton: Consortium for Research on Educational Access, Transitions and Equity, University of Sussex.
EideA.H.van RooyG. & LoebM.E. (2003) Living Conditions among People with Activity Limitations in Namibia: a national representative survey. Oslo: SINTEF. http://www.safod.org/Images/LCNamibia.pdf
GoodleyD. (2007) Towards Socially Just Pedagogies: Deleuzoguattarian critical disability studies, International Journal of Inclusive Education, 11(3), 317–334.
32.
GosselinR.A.SpiegelD.A.CoughlinR. & ZirkleL.G. (2009) Injuries: the neglected burden in developing countries, Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 87(4), 246–247. https://dx-doi-org.web.bisu.edu.cn/10.2471/BLT.08.052290
HammadT. & SingalN. (2011) Disability, Gender and Education: exploring the impact of education on the lives of women with disabilities in Pakistan. Paper presented at Eleventh UK Forum for International Education and Training (UKFIET) International Conference on Education and Development, University of Oxford, 13–15 September.
HowellC. (2006) Disabled Students and Higher Education in South Africa, in WatermeyerB.SwartzL.LorenzoT.SchneiderM. & PriestleyM. (Eds) Disability and Social Change: a South African agenda, pp. 164–178. Cape Town: Human Sciences Research Council Press.
38.
HuntF. (2008) Dropping out from School: a cross country review of the literature. Brighton: Consortium for Research on Educational Access, Transitions and Equity, University of Sussex.
KwesigaJ. & SsendiwalaE. (2006) Gender Mainstreaming in the University Context: prospects and challenges at Makerere University, Uganda, Women's Studies International Forum, 29(6), 592–605. https://dx-doi-org.web.bisu.edu.cn/10.1016/j.wsif.2006.10.002
LihambaA.MwaipopoR. & ShuleL. (2006) The Challenges of Affirmative Action in Tanzanian Higher Education Institutions: a case study of the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, Women's Studies International Forum, 29(6), 581–591. https://dx-doi-org.web.bisu.edu.cn/10.1016/j.wsif.2006.10.003
45.
LloydC. (2000) Excellence for All Children False Promises! The Failure of Current Policy for Inclusive Education and Implications for Schooling in the 21st Century, International Journal of Inclusive Education, 4(2), 133–151. https://dx-doi-org.web.bisu.edu.cn/10.1080/136031100284858
MagalhãesA.M. & StoerS.R. (2009) Performance, Citizenship and the Knowledge Society: a new mandate for European education policy, in DaleR. & RobertsonS. (Eds) Globalisation and Europeanisation in Education, pp. 233–260. Oxford: Symposium Books.
MatshedishoK.R. (2007) Access to Higher Education for Disabled Students in South Africa: a contradictory conjuncture of benevolence, rights and the social model of disability, Disability and Society, 22(7), 685–699. https://dx-doi-org.web.bisu.edu.cn/10.1080/09687590701659535
50.
MeekoshaH. (2008) Contextualising Disability: developing southern/global theory. Keynote paper at Fourth Biennial Disability Studies Conference, Lancaster University, 2–4 September. http://www.wwda.org.au/meekosha2008.htm
51.
MitchellD. & DesaiI. (2005) Diverse Socio-cultural Contexts for Inclusive Education in Asia, in MitchellD. (Ed.) Contextualising Inclusive Education: evaluating old and new international perspectives, pp. 166–201. Abingdon: Routledge.
MorleyL.GunawardenaC.KwesigaJ.LihambaA.OdejideA. & ShackletonL. (2006) Gender Equity in Selected Commonwealth Universities. London: Department for International Development.
54.
MorleyL.LeachF.LussierK.LihambaA.MwaipopoR.FordeL. & EgbenyaG. (2010) Widening Participation in Higher Education in Ghana and Tanzania: developing an Equity Scorecard. Research Report, November. http://www.sussex.ac.uk/wphegt/impact-outputs/report-summary
MumbaM. (2009) Students with Disabilities in Zambia's Higher Education System, in MwendaK.K. & MuukaG.N. (Eds) The Challenge of Change in Africa's Higher Education in the 21st Century, pp. 241–262. Amherst, NY: Cambria Press.
OliverM. (1990) The Individual and Social Models of Disability. Paper presented at Joint Workshop of the Living Options Group and the Research Unit of the Royal College of Physicians on People with Established Locomotor Disabilities in Hospitals, London, 23 July. http://www.leeds.ac.uk/disability-studies/archiveuk/Oliver/in%20soc%20dis.pdf
59.
OlukoshiA. & ZelezaP.T. (2004) The African University in the Twenty-first Century, in ZelezaP.T. & OlukoshiA. (Eds) African Universities in the Twenty-first Century, Volume II: knowledge and society, pp. 595–617. Dakar, Senegal: Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa.
60.
PaulS. (2000) Students with Disabilities in Higher Education: a review of the literature, College Student Journal, 34, 200–210.
61.
PinnockH. & LewisI. (2008) Making Schools Inclusive: how change can happen. London: Save the Children.
RiddellS.BaronS. & WilkinsonH. (1998) Training from Cradle to Grave: social justice and training for people with learning difficulties, Journal of Education Policy, 13(4), 531–544. https://dx-doi-org.web.bisu.edu.cn/10.1080/0268093980130406
64.
RiddellS.WilsonA. & TinklinT. (2002) Disability and the Wider Access Agenda: supporting disabled students in different institutional contexts, Widening Participation and Lifelong Learning, 4, 13–25.
65.
RieserR. (2008) Implementing Inclusive Education: a Commonwealth guide to implementing Article 24 of the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities. London: Commonwealth Secretariat.
66.
RobertsT.E.BoursicotK.A.M. & ButlerA. (2004) Disabled Students – Disabled Doctors – Time for a Change? A Report on a Study Looking at Societal Views on the Admission of Disabled People to Medicine. Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Learning and Teaching Support Network Subject Centre for Medicine, Dentistry and Veterinary Medicine.
67.
RustT. & MettsR. (2007) Poverty and Disability: trapped in a web of causation. Paper presented at EcoMod Network International Conference on Regional and Urban Modeling, Free University of Brussels, 1–2 June. http://www.ecomod.org/files/papers/181.pdf
68.
SenA. (1992) Inequality Reexamined. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
69.
SerpellR. (1999) Local Accountability to Rural Communities, in LeachF.E. & LittleA. (Eds) Education, Cultures and Economics, pp. 111–139. New York: RoutledgeFalmer.
70.
ShakespeareT. (2006) The Social Model of Disability, in DavisL.J. (Ed.) The Disability Studies Reader. New York: Routledge.
71.
ShakespeareT. (2009) Disability: a complex interaction, in DanielsH.LauderH. & PorterJ. (Eds) Knowledge, Values and Education Policy: a critical perspective. London: Routledge.
Sightsavers (2009) Higher Education for Blind and VIP and Barriers to Meaningful Employment for B/VIP in Developing Countries – Tanzania. Dar es Salaam: Sightsavers Programme Office.
SlikkerJ. (2009) Attitudes towards People with Disabilities in Ghana. Accra: Voluntary Service Overseas.
77.
SniderH. & TakedaN. (2008) Design for All: implications for Bank operations. Washington, DC: World Bank.
78.
SolarshG. & HofmanK.J. (2006) Developmental Disabilities, in JamisonD.T.FeachemR.G.MakgobaM.W.BosE.R.BainganaF.K.HofmanK.J., & RogoK.O. (Eds) Disease and Mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa, 2nd edn, pp. 125–148. Washington, DC: World Bank.
79.
SteinfeldE. (2005) Education for All: the cost of accessibility. Washington, DC: World Bank.
UNESCO (2010) Education for All Global Monitoring Report 2010. Reaching the Marginalized. Paris: UNESCO & Oxford University Press.
87.
UNESCO (2011) Education for All Global Monitoring Report 2011. The Hidden Crisis: armed conflict and education. Paris: UNESCO.
88.
UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2006) Global Education Digest 2006: comparing education statistics across the world. Montreal: UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
89.
UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2009) Global Education Digest 2009: comparing education statistics across the world. Montreal: UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
United Republic of Tanzania (2004) National Policy on Disability. Dar es Salaam: Ministry of Labour, Youth Development and Sports.
94.
WeedonE. & FullerM. (2004) What Is It Like for You? Surveying the Learning Experiences of Disabled Students in Four HE Institutions. Paper presented at Fifth Teaching and Learning Research Programme Annual Conference, Cardiff, 22–24 November.
95.
WestM.KregelJ.GetzelE.E.ZhuM.IspenS.M. & MartinE.D. (1993) Beyond Section 504: satisfaction and employment of students with disabilities in higher education, Exceptional Children, 59, 456–467.
96.
WexlerP. (1992) Becoming Somebody: toward a social psychology of school. London: Routledge.
World Vision (2007) Including the Excluded: integrating disability into the EFA fast track initiative processes and national education plans in Ethiopia. Milton Keynes: World Vision.
