Cape Town - A Lansdowne family has accused the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) of discriminating against their deaf daughter, after the institution denied her a place – despite her having been accepted previously.
In response to the allegations, CPUT said it was “strange” that she had been accepted previously because her marks were poor and acceptance without the minimum requirements “is like putting another challenge (in) their (students with disabilities) way”.
After matriculating from a hearing impaired school, Immaculata High School, Lisa Abrahams, now 36, was accepted at CPUT to complete a diploma in education in commerce. She passed five of her six courses, but changed her course in 2001 to B Ed (intermediate phase).
She studied this for one year and struggled to cope, claiming she was given minimal help to accommodate her disability.
“I realised my passion indeed lies with educating young deaf pupils, so I attempted to register for the B Ed (foundation phase) at CPUT (last year),” she said.
Abrahams said CPUT had not considered the fact that she was a former student and has over eight years of classroom experience. She has claimed CPUT discriminated against her because the institution does not know how to deal with disabled students.
Her mother, Sarah van der Ventel, said the family was initially told her application was rejected because of the number of students who had applied. They were later told that her marks were too poor.
“They should give my daughter a chance, she has the ability. CPUT says they will help people with disabilities, but this is not the case in practice.”
Nina du Toit, head of CPUT’s disability unit, said she had had several meetings with Abrahams and her mother, but her results were not good enough.
“Personally, I believe that our students with disabilities have to meet the minimum requirements.
“Acceptance without the minimum requirements is like putting another challenge in their way. It can also be seen as discrimination against other students without disabilities who do not meet the minimum requirements,” she said.
She said Abrahams had requested a sign language interpreter, which the unit could not afford.
However, a language capturer records all class information on a laptop and sends this to a disabled student.
DeafSA provincial director Jabaar Mohamed said: “Today, education should be accessible for all people in South Africa.
“I feel that there’s always excuses by some institutions when it comes to deaf or hard- of-hearing students who have a passion to study further.
“This is a big challenge. Today I still get a lot of complaints from my deaf clients who want to study further, but (it’s a) pity that our education institutions are not providing full access for deaf students.”
Cape Times