‘Every Now and Then You Slip up and Then You Are in Trouble’: The Responsibility on Students with Visual Impairments to Access Reasonable Accommodations in South Africa

Abstract

Within the last two decades, the South African government drafted impressive policies to fully include and accommodate students with visual impairments within higher education. However, in interviews with 23 students with visual impairments at two South African universities, we found that legislation has yet to fully permeate the embodied experiences of these students. Despite stringent policies, lecturers still have the power to decide whether they want to accommodate students with reasonable requests. Second, students carry a tremendous amount of responsibility in procuring reasonable accommodations. Third, the Apartheid regime that left many marginalised groups impoverished still disadvantages some Black students with visual impairments. We suggest that students and lecturers might benefit from clear guidelines regarding their roles and responsibilities. Students should also receive information regarding their legal rights.