Eliora 1

Human Rights Research Paper

English 10
Mrs. French
5 October 2015
South Africa: Disability and Schools
In his writing, author George McDonald encourages, Never tell a child, you have a
soul. Teach him, you are a soul: you have a body (You Dont ). Though the piece was
written near the end of the 19th Century, the advice is still eminently relevant in this twentyfirst, where people are discriminated against their inherited physical and mental attributes.
Though a human right against discrimination stands, around the world, the disabled remain
segregated from societies and are wholesomely ostracized from communal opportunities.
Instead of providing food for the soul, as McDonald suggests, the rejection of disabled
children from schools are teaching youths around the world that disabilities define
limitations, instead of supporting a childs yearn to overcome them. In South Africa the same
regime is thoroughly evident, more so in less communities where public schools are
incompetent in educating the disabled, and schools tailored for them are often too far and
financially draining to support (South Africa: Education). The human rights abuse
happening against disabled children in South African education is a product of pre-assumed
indigence, historic apartheid culture, and flawed attempts on establishing services for the
disabled.
In South African education, the rejection of disabled children from schools is because
they are seen as an economical burden with no substantial future for contribution. This is a
culture bread by the societys assumption of that the disabled are destined for indigence, if
without financial support from other individuals. The role of poverty within disabled culture
cannot be overlooked. Most disabled individuals come from an impoverished population, as

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they are more prone to sicknesses due to poor living conditions unable to afford proper
medical treatment (Tesemma, 2). In result, mothers of poor economic status have a higher
risk of giving birth to disabled children. Families in poverty are also unable to provide
appropriate education for their children, much less in schools designed for the disabled,
which cost a considerable sum of money. Consequently, they are rejected of the opportunity
for learning basic life skills, rendering them incompetent to make daily living. An estimated
99% of disabled people are excluded from employment on the open labour market
(Integrated National Disability Strategy), which indulges the irony of disabled treatment; it
is feared that they cannot work, but neither are they given work opportunities, or the privilege
to learn how to work. As of 2011, it means that about 7.5% of the population (Lehola, 7)
faces a stigma against labour efforts. The indigence that the society fears as a disableds
disposition is a product of the states own corrupt mindset towards the disabled, emitting
them in an endless cycle between being rejected of education, hence their incapability to
work towards a better economical state, and being stigmatized for it.
The stigma against education for the disabled is also apparent as a cultural inheritance
from the Apartheid. Grouping is a cultural practice executed by the Apartheid, and is
possibly the most powerful way of ensuring rejection of people, and it is also the most
common practice in both apartheid and disability service (Jackson, 9). Both are denied of the
basic human rights, and considered of a lower social status than Caucasians (12). Instead of a
standard education, during the Apartheid regime, black Africans were given a disadvantaged
education that prepared them for a life serving others (Fagin, 13). In the years following, little
has changed. Although racial discrimination has thinned out, the marks left by the Apartheid
are still prominent. The racial segregation faced by black Africans has then since transformed
into segregation between those considered whole against those with disabilities. Similarly,
grouping has led disabled children to receive a disadvantaged (and almost dissolved)

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educational opportunity. There is a lack of qualified teachers and facilities in South Africa to
school disabled children, even for basic education (Complicit in Exclusion). Today, an
estimated half-a-million children with disabilities have been shut out of South Africas
education system (South Africa: Education). Although the government claims to have
included disabled in schooling (Education Department), residue of Apartheid grouping is
still evident to be livid in the perspectives of the nation and its people. The design of the
system (both by the government and its people) is further catapulting disabled individuals
into helplessness through exclusion from sufficient education (a translation of how black
Africans were turned into servants by default), and grouping them away from those
considered more worthy. Hence, though the Apartheid no longer has official bearings in the
government, its hands and feet still run the mindset against school for disabled children.
Attempt to establish rights for the disabled in South Africa and their degrading of the
value of the disabled people is the reason the people have a negative outlook towards
disabled people. In 1948 (under Apartheid arm), there had been an attempt to establish
schooling rights for disabled Whites, but instead of modifying the system and environment to
fit the childs needs, they were treated like patients and educated with and underlying medical
and mental diagnosis (Naicker, 2006). Then, there was the National Conference of Handicap
Persons, in 1952, that said equal treatment for the disabled was impossible in South Africas
multicultural community (Fagin, 9). Following that, in 1959, the United Nations established
that children with disabilities, referred to as handicapped, deserve special treatment,
education, and care. The language accentuates the dependency and difference of children
with disabilities (Fagin, 6). Unfortunately, these acts of service have not only eliminated the
twentieth-centurys disabled children from participating school, and the thought scheme has
produced generations with the same implacable belief. In some cases, parents have even
warned their children to avoid mingling with disabled children, because they fear the

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disability will spread (Witness). Such opinions are ridiculous, but accepted as a norm
as it was bred into their culture, and ironically also a product of poor education. A mother,
Sisandua, admitted that she was once ashamed of her disabled child (though she has since
learned to accept him and love him), because the society she grew in were unsupportive and
dejected disability (Witness). The South African attitude towards disability is all rooted
from the past national failed attempts on service for the disabled, that instead of encouraging
healthy relationships with the disabled instead choose to segregate them further as a
dependent group. The people running the schools share the same mentality, and choose to
reject disabled children from their education system or permanently placing them on the
schools waiting list on false pretense.
The South African society has removed the disabled from their educational system, on
the basis of pre-assumed indigence, inherited Apartheid culture, and the failures of past
national attempts on establishing services for the disabled. It has been established that people
in poverty are more inclined towards disability, and that their rejection from schools only
plunder them further into indigence. The racial discrimination evident under the Apartheid
government and their concept of grouping has since transformed into segregation towards
disabled people, seen as the unworthy. The services meant for disabled people has only
strengthened the peoples opinions of the disabled as a dependent group. The perspective the
people hold of against disabled people will only deteriorate the disabled population further,
notably so if they are withheld from proper education.

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Works Cited
Complicit in Exclusion. Human Rights Watch. Human Rights Watch, 18 August 2015. Web.
3 September 2015.
Education Department Makes Great Strides Towards Addressing the Plight of Disabled
Learners. Basic Education. South Africas Department of Basic Education, 18
August 2015. Web. 27 September 2015.
Fagin, Jean M. Global Influences and Resistance Within: Inclusive Practices and South
Africa's Apartheid Government. Masters Thesis. Loyola University Chicago, 2011.
PDF file. 25 September 2015.
Integrated National Disability Strategy. Independent Living Institute. Independent Living
Institute. Web. 25 September 2015.
Jackson, Robert L. Parallels Between Apartheid and Intellectual Disability Policy and
Practice: Implications for Citizens and Services. Edith Cowan University. Perth. PDF
file. 10 September 2015.
Lehola, Pali. Census 2011: Profile of persons with disabilities in South Africa. Statistics
South Africa. Statistics South Africa, 2014. PDF file. 25 September 2015.
Naicker, S. (2006). From Policy to Practice: A South African Perspective on Implementing
Inclusive Education Policy. International Journal of Whole Schooling, 3(1), 1-6,
2006. PDF file. 27 September 2015.
South Africa: Education Barriers for Children with Disabilities. Human Rights Watch.
Human Rights Watch, 18 August 2015. Web. 3 September 2015.
Tesemma, Shimelis T. Economic Discourses of Disability in Africa: An Overview of Lay
and Legislative Narratives. African Disability Rights Yearbook. University of
Pretoria, 2014. PDF file. 10 September 2015.

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Witness: Sidelined in South Africa For Being Different. Humans Rights Watch. Humans
Right Watch, 18 August 2015. Web. 3 September 2015.
You Dont Have a Soul: C.S. Lewis Never Said It. Mereorthodoxy. Mereorthodoxy: 5
July 2012. Web. 17 September 2015.