South
Africa’s deaf school-leavers are not only finding that many universities fail to provide facilities to support them, but also that being deaf often bars them from taking courses of their choice.
Robyn Swannack, 16, who matriculated from Durban’s Fulton School for the Deaf, said her first choice of course had been architecture, but she had had to settle for another type of degree.
“My second choice was a Bachelor of Social Science, which I was accepted for at the Universities of KwaZulu-Natal, the Witwatersrand and Cape Town (UCT),” she said.
“I have chosen to go to UCT because they were the only university that offered assistance. They provide interpreters and technological support during lectures at no extra charge.”
Robyn’s mother, Alison, said they attended the open day at UKZN last year, but were told they would have to provide their own interpreter for Robyn.
“One of the staff members there that day said they didn’t know that deaf children wanted to go to university. It was very bad,” she said.
Jessica Knight, also from Fulton, whose first love is photography, has been accepted at a local college, but has to provide her own interpreter. The lecturers have agreed to print out notes for her, but at a cost.
The principal at Fulton, Beryl Campbell, said that having to hire an interpreter at about R380 an hour made tertiary study for the deaf too expensive.
“They are really compromised,” she said. “At the moment we have gone as far as Parliament to try and get assistance for our students.”
Campbell said she was also concerned about whether UCT would deliver on what it had promised. “We have found the universities often promise all these things but when (deaf students) arrive they are not available,” she said.
Indu Moodley, of UKZN, said assistance depended on the level of the disability.
“I am shocked to hear one of our staff members said that we don’t think deaf people want to study at university,” she said. “We are committed to responding to the needs of disabled students.”
The Durban University of Technology said it offered interpreters only for its IT courses. - The Mercury