UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN

TRANSFORMATION SERVICES OFFICE

DISABILITY SERVICE

ANNUAL REPORT

2012 – 2013

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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.

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INTRODUCTION

Once again the time has come to take stock of what we achieved in 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 serving which inevitably depends on enlisting the help of volunteers

and ad hoc staff.

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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 to twenty,

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 a pledge 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 staffing and 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.

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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.

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SPECIFIC LEARNING DISABILITY SUPPORT

Margie Le Roux, who replaced Rosemary Exner in April 2012 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 on implementing 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 tests prescribed 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 Wits University to get to know more about the

support they are offering to students with Specific Learning Disabilities.

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STUDENTS WITH UPPER LIMB MOBILITY IMPAIRMENT

We referred above to the note takers we employ to support Hard of Hearing and

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 by 62 students, and in October/November 64

students with a variety of disabilities wrote 179 exams in the Disability Service. The

team who provided onsite 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

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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 Statistics from 2011 - 2013

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

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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 iconic venue. 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

catch this 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.

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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 da Conceicao 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.

In 2012 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

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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!

And speaking of Robyn, I place here an edited piece by Nafisa Mayat, our Advocacy

Co-ordinator, who also happens to be the Warden in the Residence where Robyn

has been living.

Robyn, who is Deaf, has been living at Carinus Residence since the beginning of

2012. The staff and students in the Residence did not know Sign language and so

initially there were some communication barriers, however, between them they have

worked out a way to communicate. I know basic Sign Language and am able to

communicate with her on uncomplicated issues. On her first day and subsequently

for major functions, we would have a Sign Language Interpreter present to Interpret

for her. I informed the staff and students in Leadership positions that a Deaf student

would be staying at the Residence and that they had to ensure that she was not

excluded from the activities of the Residence. The Subwardens were tasked with

making her feel comfortable in the beginning and one of the Subwardens took on the

responsibility of ensuring that she had settled in well and would keep an eye out for

her. What amazed me is how ready the students were to ensure that Robyn was part

of the Residence. She soon became an integral part of the Residence, planning Sign

Language Classes, attending functions and making friends. I think for me, the best

moment was seeing her all dressed up dancing away at our Formal.

The students were ready to learn and were excited about attending the Sign

Language Classes Robin and David, another Deaf student, presented. This group

subsequently played a key role in our very successful Deafness Awareness

Campaign.

I know that all of us are much richer for having Robyn in our Residence, the staff

and students are more confident in interacting with someone who is Deaf and I have

seen Robyn develop into a confident young woman, who is ready to try out another

Residence (without the safety net of Nafisa), ready to spread her wings and

experience all that the University has to offer her.

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ADVOCACY EVENTS

Buza – ASK

One of our most successful awareness raising projects has been the series of Buza

events we hosted – lunchtime events when staff and students were invited to join us

for an informal finger lunch and to talk to panels of disabled students and members

of staff. “today is your chance to ask us any of those questions about being blind,

being Deaf, being a wheelchair user, that you have always wanted to, but have

been too embarrassed to ask.” We received overwhelmingly positive feedback from

the people who attended these events.

A Buza on Hearing Impairment and Deafness

The key to successful transformation is for people to talk to each other and not at

each other.

A group of Deaf and Hearing Impaired students together with their friends and ably

assisted by both Nafisa and Lesego staged a very successful celebration of Deaf

Culture and SASL during Deaf Awareness week. This event which enjoyed extensive

media coverage was attended by hundreds of students, enthusiastically participating

in the proceedings. It drew much media attention, including coverage from the Cape

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Times and ETV. There may be such a thing as being too successful. As a result of

the TV coverage, we lost our very talented SLI to that glamorous medium. Lesego is

now a co-presenter of Hectic 99, but is still happy to help out when we need her and

remains an enthusiastic advocate for Deaf people.

We were however very lucky to obtain the services of Trudie Theunissen who is

highly regarded in the Deaf community and has been extensively involved in Sign

Language training and the national co-ordination of interpreting services for the Deaf.

Two other successful lunch time events deserve a mention. On 19 July 2012 we

played host to a group of UCT staff who on a daily basis support and facilitate our

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work. These included staff members from Supercare, Class Room Facilities, Traffic

and CPS; over plates of chops, sausage, chicken and salad there was a lot of light

hearted banter and informal networking. Those who attended the function were

unanimous in their expressions of appreciation for this thank you gesture from the

Disability Service.

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On a slightly more formal note we also hosted the ever growing group of senior

students who assist us as scribes, note takers, tutors and with general work around

the Unit. The lunch time event we arranged for this cohort of students who are

effectively our colleagues was primarily - to get to know each other, but also to

launch a process of monitoring and evaluating the service they provide to disabled

students.

We are working hard to establish a system for Monitoring and Evaluation of our

support to staff and students with disabilities. Positive feedback in the past has

tended to be during one-on-one interactions – with students often coming to thank us

for support towards the end of their degree, or their stay at UCT.

It remains to be seen how well users of our service will respond to survey

questionnaires. We also hope to be getting information about the experience of our

cohort of note takers, scribes, tutors, exam invigilators, and volunteers.

But we do like to share now and then expressions of thanks and appreciation if only

to ensure those who support us and believe in us that we are on the right track.

We were happy to have actively engaged with the students in the M.Phil. in Disability

Studies Program by way of two very successful workshops –consisting of a seminar

by Guy Davies on Accessible Building Design and one on the work we do specifically

to support students who are Blind and Visually Impaired.

Documentation and Social Networking

An 18 page Information Guide to the software and hardware in the Disability Service

Lab has been compiled. This contains technical information about the hardware

specifications of the 13 computers in the lab, the Merlin enlarger and information on

the Software in use (Zoomtext, Jaws, Open Book, TextHelp read and Write Gold,

Wynn). The purpose of the Information is to provide visitors with best practice

information if wanting to start up similar labs at tertiary institutions or elsewhere. A

copy of the document was given to each of the 13 MPhil in Disability Studies

students at a workshop on Support to Visually Impaired Students presented on 28th

August. Muya Koloko, one of our Student Assistants created the Disability Service

Facebook page and a DS Twitter Account has been opened. Liaison with the UCT

webmaster continues to keep the Disability Service webpage updated.

GRADUATION

Fifteen students who wrote exams at the Disability Service in November received

their degrees

Among them was Shakiela Omar, a visually impaired student who graduated with a

BA (with a distinction in Arabic) and Prinesh Bikhani who has a motor impairment

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and obtained BA with a distinction in Psychology) and appeared on the Dean’s Merit

List.

Two other students had graduated in June: Andrew Ryan who has quadriplegia and

Jacques Lourens who has use of one arm only.

Jacques Lourens

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Andrew Ryan

Graduation has become a busy, high profile event for staff of the Disability Service,

as the report below demonstrates.

December Graduation 2012

By Edwina Konghot

When I arrived in February 2008, limited structures were in place for students

graduating in wheelchairs. The hoist had been installed to assist wheelchair users to

gain access to the platform. However, there were no structures in place to assist

guests at the ceremony. This all changed as the years progressed. I was invited to

attend the pre-grad meeting and at every grad ceremony my visible attendance

allowed me to network with the greater UCT community. The networking grew in to a

well establish working relationship, with Student records, UCT Traffic, CPS.

Since 2009 the DS provided accommodations to guests with mobility impairments

and with every graduation the demand increased to accommodate those guests

attending ceremonies. This year the demand for various accommodations exceeded

our expectations!! As a result ALL staff members in the department were asked to

assist with grad and two students were also recruited.

To give some idea of the demands it is worth noting that on the evening of the 12th

December I received 37 emails requesting assistance for graduation. Every morning

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before the first ceremony I had to add additional guests and students to the list and

needed to inform traffic and CPS about their arrival. The late requests also impacted

on the reserve seating arrangements.

Wednesday 12 December

Eight guests with various mobility difficulties confirmed their attendance at

graduation and requested assistance but on the day we had to accommodate six

guests with mobility difficulties who had not requested assistance.

Thursday 13 December 2012

Nine guests with various mobility difficulties confirmed their attendance at grad and

requested assistance. We again had several unexpected guests with mobility

difficulties who had not confirmed their attendance. We had a busy morning and it

was crazy at the door!! Unexpected guests arrived in wheelchairs 5 minutes before

the procession entered the hall. There were no more reserved spaces available and

we were required to seat the unexpected guests. What a day!!

CONCLUSION

As we conclude the first quarter of the academic year and I put the finishing touches

to this report, we are full of excitement and optimism determined to do more of what

we do well and to do it better. We want to thank the University community for the

way it embraces the Disability Service and all it represents. We don’t hold it against

the powers that be for cutting our budget – or rather we do – but we know not to take

it personally.

And so it remains for me to thank my colleagues in the unit for their hard work and

unstinting support to me personally and their dedication to the work we do. I also

want to thank our larger Transformation family in which we have found an affirming

and supportive home.

A FINAL WORD OF THANKS

The last word of thanks go to our loyal band of donors, which I have to admit is

dwindling a bit, partially I fear as a result of being so neglected except for this annual

report. We gratefully acknowledge the following:

Carl and Emily Fuchs Foundation

Kaplin Kushlick Foundation

The Suiderland Fisheries

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Reinette Popplestone

Manager: Disability Service

Transformation Services Office

Phone: (021) 650 5090 / Cell: 083-647 0703

Fax: (021) 650 3794

Email: Reinette.Popplestone@uct.ac.za