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The community-based actions that removed barriers to inclusive education in Kenya

ELDER, Brent C
PAYNE, Mbuh
OSWAGO, Benson
2021

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This article represents a culmination of inclusive education projects implemented in western Kenya since 2010. In this article, we discuss the 2018 iteration of this on-going community-based participatory research (CBPR)-informed project in which we utilised multiple theoretical frameworks to inform our methods in this project, including decolonising methodologies and Critical Disability Studies (CDS). We conducted qualitative interviews as a way to learn about the ways in which inclusion committees facilitated the partial removal of barriers to the development of an inclusive education system in the region over the last decade. In this article, we provide an overview of the barriers to inclusive education in the global South and sub-Saharan Africa, with a particular focus on western Kenya. We present findings that highlight the various inclusion committee actions that contributed to the partial removal of barriers which included: sensitising communities about inclusive education; promoting access to inclusive education; and implementing inclusive strategies like income generating activities (IGAs) and co-teaching. We conclude the article by suggesting potential ways forward for inclusive education in Kenya including: a multi-sector approach for family supports; providing government incentives to inclusive schools; and promoting IGAs and co-teaching practices in teacher education programs and in schools.

Disability Inclusive Development - Jordan Situational Analysis

THOMPSON, Stephen
June 2020

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This situational analysis (SITAN) addresses the question: “what is the current situation for persons with disabilities in Jordan?”. It has been prepared for the Disability Inclusive Development programme (which works on access to education, jobs, healthcare, and reduced stigma and discrimination for persons with disabilities in Bangladesh, Jordan, Kenya, Nepal, Nigeria, and Tanzania), to better understand the current context, including COVID-19, and available evidence in Jordan. It will be helpful for anyone interested in disability inclusion in Jordan, especially in relation to stigma, employment, education, health, and humanitarian issues.

A university’s response to people with disabilities in Worcester, Western Cape

MÜLLER, Jana V.
NED, Lieketseng
BOSHOFF, Hananja
October 2019

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Background: The call for institutions of higher education to foster interaction with communities and ensure training is responsive to the needs of communities is well documented. In 2011, Stellenbosch University collaborated with the Worcester community to identify the needs of people with disabilities within the community. How the university was engaging with these identified needs through student training still needed to be determined.

 

Objectives: This study describes the engagement process of reciprocity and responsivity in aligning needs identified by persons with disability to four undergraduate allied health student training programmes in Worcester, Western Cape.

 

Method: A single case study using the participatory action research appraisal methods explored how undergraduate student service learning was responding to 21 needs previously identified in 2011 alongside persons with disability allowing for comprehensive feedback and a collaborative and coordinated response.

 

Results: Students’ service learning activities addressed 14 of the 21 needs. Further collaborative dialogue resulted in re-grouping the needs into six themes accompanied by a planned collaborative response by both community and student learning to address all 21 needs previously identified.

 

Conclusion: Undergraduate students’ service learning in communities has the potential to meet community identified needs especially when participatory action research strategies are implemented. Reciprocity exists when university and community co-engage to construct, reflect and adjust responsive service learning. This has the potential to create a collaborative environment and process in which trust, accountability, inclusion and communication is possible between the university and the community.

 

 

African Journal of Disability, Vol 8, 2019

A Population-based Study on the Prevalence of Impairment and Disability Among Young Cambodian Children

EVANS, P
SHAH, S
HUEBNER, A
SIVASUBRAMANIAM, S
VUTHY, C
SAMBATH, K
HAURISA, L
BORUN, Y
2014

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Purpose: This population-based study aimed to estimate the prevalence of impairment and disability and associated risk factors among children between 2 – 9 years of age in Cambodia.

 

Method: A two-phase method was employed. In phase 1, children were screened using the Ten Question Screening Instrument (TQSI) developed for the World Health Organisation (WHO). Those identified positive, were then referred tophase 2 for a detailed multi-professional assessment. A further 10% of children pre-selected at random were also referred to phase 2. Treatment needs for children with disability and risk factors for their disability were also determined.

 

Results: Prevalence of impairment was estimated at 15.59% (95% CI: 15.05, 16.14), disability at 10.06% (95% CI: 9.16, 10.1) and moderate/severe/profound at 3.22% (95% CI: 2.96, 3.49). Cognition (5.48%. 95% CI: 5.15, 5.83), speech (motor) (2.05%. 95% CI: 1.85, 2.27), speech (language) (1.80%. 95% CI: 1.61, 2.01) and hearing (2.51%. 95% CI: 2.29, 2.76) were the most common disabilities. History of difficult delivery, child’s age, major injury, gender and large family size were significant predictors of disability. Analysis of ‘false negatives’ in the validation group suggested that many parents and caretakers were unaware of their child’s disability. Treatment needs were found to be very high, approaching 100% for children with moderate or worse disabilities. 

 

Conclusions: Prevalence estimates based on this study are more than 10 times higher than those reported in Cambodia’s 2008 National Census. The identified risk factors imply the need for substantial expansion of obstetric services. Education and awareness of disabilities in the population and strategies to prevent injuries require more government attention.

 

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