UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN

TRANSFORMATION SERVICES OFFICE

DISABILITY SERVICE

ANNUAL REPORT

2012 – 2013

All documentation produced by the Disability Service is available in enlarged text, audio, Braille and e-text on request.

Vision

To establish a human rights culture at UCT with a special emphasis on disability.

To act within the University structures, providing advice and support both in terms of harnessing mainstream capabilities for the accommodation of people with disabilities, as well as providing specialist services where mainstreaming is not possible. To provide academically deserving disabled people with the opportunity for a fair and equal educational and work experience.

To be the sounding board, knowledge base and benchmark which deliver to the University the capacity to interact appropriately with students, staff, prospective students and visitors with disabilities.

INTRODUCTION

Once again the time has come to take stock of what we achievedin 2012, and to give a brief overview of what we plan for 2013.

We have become increasingly persuaded that assistive technology and changes to the built environment alone will not ensure disabled students’ academic success. Attractive as is the notion of disabled people being entirely self-sufficient depending on the necessary adaptations to the environment, the truth is that we all need, to a greater or lesser extent, the support or assistance of human beings. We live, as Tess said to her little brother in the Hardy novel bearing her name, “on a blighted star.”

For instance, the number of students admitted each year who are somewhere on the autism spectrum is growing, and we need to stress that these are not students for whom we had to motivate in order to gain a admission. They have been admitted on their school results and NBT results. With the support of my colleagues these students are holding their own and succeeding. The drop-out and failure rate among students with disabilities is, I am convinced by anecdotal evidence, proportionately much, much lower than for the average student population. By far the greater numbers of our graduates with disabilities find employment, many before they have even graduated. We need to see this in the context of the large number of non-disabled graduates who remain unemployed, and the even larger proportion of unemployed people with disabilities. We lack statistical and research skills (and time!) in our unit to track and record this data, but we need to identify skills and resources to do this.

Traditionally Disability Support units at tertiary institutions have focused on providing services and facilities to students with visual and mobility impairments. But the profile of disabled students we are serving has undergone a marked change in the last few years.Our unit is growing, both in the variety of services we offer, and the number of students we are servingwhich inevitably depends on enlisting the help of volunteers and ad hoc staff.

STUDENTS WHO ARE HARD OF HEARING AND DEAF

Up until a few years ago, this cohort of students were "notorious" for "making the best of things": choosing to manage without support with their very limited hearing. It took years of advocacy, of developing services for that group of students and then marketing these,to persuade them that we could indeed enhance their learning experience.

Fifteen students with significant hearing impairments are currently registered with the DS at both under and post graduate level. Some of these make use of Cochlear Implants; others rely on hearing aids and lip reading. We have made great strides in serving this group of Students, but much remains to be done. In 2012 we were able to fit 14 of our lecture venues(plus Jameson Hall)with induction loop technology, bringing the total of venues accessible to people who are Hard of Hearing totwenty,but many more will need to be equipped. We have also started employing talented students to act as note takers for those who make use of lip reading, or have lectures in venues in which assistive listening technology is still to be installed.

OUR FIRST FULL-TME SIGN LANGUAGE INTERPRETER

Armed with the R50 000 that the Carl and Emily Fuchs Foundation had generously granted us towards the end of 2011 to initiate the process of appointing a full-time Sign Language Interpreter (SLI), augmented by apledge of R40 000 from money that the Skills Development Committee at the University had made available for the training and support of Deaf staff members, we were able to secure the services of Lesego Modutle. For the rest we were able to use some of the budget we have for non-recurring staffingand some from our dwindling discretionary donor funding, and thus armed we managed to get through the year. Lesego obtained her degree in Communication at the UFS with SASL (South African Sign Language) as her major.In place by the start of the academic year she was pretty much thrown into the deep end. She was new, and the student for whom she interpreted was equally new. Lesego contributed to the Health and Human Rights Project in the School of Public Health and Family Medicine, part of the Health Sciences Faculty, and also interpreted for Deaf staff members during staff training opportunities, for which in the past we had to hire in SLI’s at considerable expense.

UCT made history during the June graduation ceremony. For the first time there was a Sign Language interpreter who interpreted during all the ceremonies.

Earlier that month The Disability Service collaborated with the School of Public Health and Family Medicine to add to the festivities which marked the Health Science’s Faculty’s centenary. We were “graduating” 12 community interpreters who had successfully completed a course in community interpreting offered by the University of the Free State. Lesego interpreted both the spoken word to the large number of Deaf visitors and also voiced their signed contributions to the event. It was truly a wonderful occasion, bringing together academics and activists from several Universities and Disability Practitioners in a joyous event. May there be many more of them.

SPECIFIC LEARNING DISABILITY SUPPORT

Margie Le Roux, who replaced Rosemary Exner in April2012 as part time Ed Psych consultant in the Disability Service, has proved herself an invaluable member of our team. Margie identified and helped us acquire software options to assist in screening students for signs of dyslexia and other Specific Learning Disabilities before sending them for the expensive diagnostic tests UCT requires for certain test and exam accommodations.She is also working hard to identify screening tests for reading and writing disorders best suited for people 18 years and older, as much of the testing material currently prescribed is normed for secondary school learners. Another innovation that Margie has spearheaded is that eight students from disadvantaged backgrounds are now being assessed by Masters Students at UCT’s Child Guidance Clinic.And although we supported 18 others from disadvantaged backgrounds from our discretionary donor funding who could not afford to pay for these assessments to the tune of roughly R40 000, many had to be turned away. And that is why we embarked at the beginning of 2013 onimplementing a brand new and very exciting solution to the problem of the high costs of Psychometric Evaluations which effectively means that only students from relatively advantaged backgrounds get to apply successfully for certain exam accommodations. Towards the end of January 2013, Maritsa Boers joined our team as the first Psychometry Intern. We have purchased the whole range of psychometric testsprescribed by the University, and Maritsa will be administering these tests to students who could otherwise not afford to go for private assessments. She will conduct this work under Margie's strict supervision.

We are also initiating research around the effective psychometric testing of students for whom English is not a first language and who are disadvantaged by an education system which still results in huge discrepancies in academic preparedness on entering the university environment.

Margie is playing a pivotal role in providing ongoing support to a growing group of students with psycho-social disabilities such as Asperger’s, acute Sociophobia, and others. I believe that the coping skills, improved self-esteem as a result of successfully completing a degree bring about positive changes which last a lifetime. We should not underestimate the extent to which a university education serves to improve the quality of people’s lives even if it seems to some that the chances of immediate gainful employment for students with significant disabilities are slim. For many reasons it seems to me we should guard vigilantly against a perception governed by economic requirements which see the University increasingly as a machine for turning out worker bees.

At the end of July Margie and Denise attended a two-day conference on Asperger’s’ Syndrome in Johannesburg, which they both found immensely useful. Margie stayed an extra day to visit WitsUniversity to get to know more about the support they are offering to students with Specific Learning Disabilities.

STUDENTS WITH UPPER LIMB MOBILITY IMPAIRMENT

We referred above to the note takers we employ to support Hard of Hearingand Deaf students during lectures but for the last few years we have also increasingly employed students as note takers for those who have either temporarily or permanently lost the use of one or both hands . This has included students with broken arms and temporary injuries e.g. one who accidentally severed the tendons in her right wrist. But we also have students with Neurological Impairments who find writing difficult. Samuel, who has little functional use of his hands due to a Neuropathy, uses Dragon Naturally Speaking for his written work, but it is not feasible to use Dragon in lectures. Matthew, who is quite a brilliant Computer Science student finds writing difficult as a result of Cerebral Palsy; he is unable to use Dragon because he also has a severe Speech Impediment as a result of the CP. For a significant number of these students we also employ scribes for tests and exams. In the second Semester of 2012 we funded 20 note takers for six students who need this kind of support. Five students who need scribes wrote exams for 19 courses during the November examinations. We remunerate scribes at the same rate as tutors- providing scribes for the exam period cost us roughly R6 000.00.

The Notetaker support programme has grown. In 2012 Notetakers were arranged for a total of 40 courses.

2011: 4 students had Notetakers for a total of 10 courses.

2012: 7 students with Notetakers for 20 courses in the first semester; 7 students with Notetakers for 20 courses in the second semester

Tests and Exams

In the first semester a total of 89 term time tests were written at the Disability Service and 75 in the second. UCT is making more and more use of after-hours test writing. We have used disability staff for this up till recently but it is an expensive way of using resources because it means staff claiming overtime and being out of the office when the unit is at its busiest. We have found it much more economically feasible to employ a student with a master's degree after hours. He has invigilated 180 tests this year. Fortunately the exams office will be covering his costs for the formal exam period.

In June 184 exams were written by62 students, and in October/November 64 students with a variety of disabilities wrote 179 exams in the Disability Service. The teamwho providedonsite support for the students included UCT Disability Service staff and postgraduate students.

Scribes:

There was an increase in the number of students needing scribes. In 2011 2 students required the use of scribes for 8 exams in total). In November 6 students required scribes for 21 exams. Our scribes are postgraduate students or staff, recommended by their departments.

How are we currently funding this work? A portion of the funding comes from our non-recurrent staffing budget, but a significant portion is paid from our discretionary donor budget – the latter shrinking significantly as a result of the current economic climate, and the former drastically reduced for the 2013 budget cycle.

DISABILITY SERVICE STUDENT WALK-IN REGISTRATIONS / JUNE 2011 / JULY 2012 / FEB 2013
Chronic Illness / 21 / 14 / 7
Psychological Impairment / 4 / 9 / 6
Hearing Impairment / 3 / 7 / 5
Specific Learning Disabilities / 99 / 220 / 122
Motor Impaired / 23 / 17 / 22
Visually Impaired / 9 / 4 / 7
Wheelchair Access / 3 / 2
Temporary / 23 / 26 / 9
Speech Impaired / 1 / 4 / 2
Neurological Impairment / 4 / 1

Disability Service Statistics from 2011 - 2013

Barrier Free Access

We have made significant progress in drafting an extensive set of Universal Design building guidelines for people with Mobility, Hearing and Visual Impairments. We are hoping that this document will be ready for publication by the end of June 2013, and formally adopted by the University, and will be enforced in accordance with the University’s Disability Policy.

Along with the Loop Systems we have already mentioned, several more buildings have been made accessible. They include the office of UCT’s Ombud, The Cottage which houses the Directorate of Transformation, and the Discrimination and Harassment Office. We also succeeded in installing Loop Technology in the Jameson Hall, another iconicvenue. This, I must just tell you, added somewhat to the grey hair on Edwina’s head. It is necessary to walk particularly softly softly to catchthis Jameson Hall heritage monkey.

SOME MORE FIRSTS

In 2012 we boasted admitting our first sign language user and a full time Sign Language Interpreter. This year, in 2013, I feel it is almost as great an achievement for us to have admitted the first totally blind undergraduate in a decade. We are deeply indebted to the Humanities Faculty who has gone out on a limb for us for this student. The problem for blind applicants who have been educated in the “special school” system is that they achieve very low scores in Maths and Science, if it is offered at all. Learners are strongly encouraged to choose courses such as Tourism, which do not add to their admission scores. They are encouraged to take “easy” subjects, among other reasons to inflate their NSC pass rates, and because too often educators and management of these schools have low expectations of the learners entrusted to them.

But even in the few schools who do offer maths and science, the skills to teach these subjects to Deaf and Blind learners are so poor, that the marks they finally achieve woefully skew their Admission Points Scores.

In 2013, another first for UCT is that a student with Quadriplegia has been given a place in residence along with her Carer. We need to pay tribute to Student Housing for their support in this regard.

Many of the students registered with the DS require quite intensive support. Several of these students are coping with multiple and in some cases progressive disabilities. It is equally true that some of our most severely impaired students are the ones who are performing most impressively.

HIGH ACHIEVER PROFILE

I would like to revive a tradition in the report to pay tribute to a high achiever. Samuel daConceicao has won the admiration and affection of every single person who has come into contact with him – fellow students, lecturers, note takers and scribes, and not least the staff of the Disability Service.

Samuel, who is gentle and self-effacing, has been adjusting with no fuss and no complaints to a progressive Neuromuscular Disease. We were all saddened when Samuel returned in 2013 from December break to notice the extent to which disease has progressed in three short months. But Samuel is fiercely determined to go on as before. He is determined to graduate at the end of this year.

In2012 his name appeared on the Dean’s Merit list and he was the class medallist for Portuguese. It is hard to convey, without descending into sentimentality and hyperboles, the odds against which Samuel has achieved this. If I dare compare I would say that my challenges as a totally blind student at this university in the 1980s, when the Disability Unit was just a twinkle in the late Kate Jagoe’ s eye, were as nothing compared to the challenges Samuel faces, as he grows weaker and continues to negotiate on a daily basis the daunting space that is this campus.Samuel, we are routing for you with everything we have, and the day you graduate will be a high point in all our lives.

TRANSFORMING THE UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN……ONE HEART AT A TIME

Although we regularly single out some of our advocacy events in this report, our experience is transformation tends to happen one heart at a time. Although by virtue of our mandate our priority is providing services to staff and students with disabilities in order to ensure that they reach their full potential, a lot of transformation work happens in the process. And the most effective part of this work happens as students with disabilities interact with their non-disabled peers in the day-to-day rough and tumble of university life. In the end the burden of “making the extra-ordinary ordinary” rests heavily on the UCT community of students and staff with disabilities, but most especially the students. This is why we were delighted to learn during a discussion with our group of note takers and scribes that meaningful friendships have been forming between the students with disabilities and those who assist them. These interactions, which are in the first place pragmatic, affect the students who engage in them in ways that are permanent and life changing. We learnt for instance that a student who has been taking notes for Robyn, who is Deaf, has been teaching Robin to drive!