Environmental Barriers Affecting Students with Disabilities at a Selected South African Institution of Higher Learning

Abstract

South African students with disabilities have and are still experiencing various challenges in their institutions of learning. These ills include environmental challenges such as lack of architectural structures like ramps, elevators, and others, which affect the students with disabilities' academic success. These barriers work contrarily with the notion of inclusion in education which seek to uphold equality as well as fair provision of services to maintain successful education for all. Additionally, the effect of environmental barriers towards students with disabilities is overlooked yet their influence has an enormous impact on these students' academic progress. Hence, there is a need to investigate the extent to which these environmental barriers affect students with disabilities in South African higher institutions of learning by using the University of Limpopo as a case in point of such institutions. A qualitative descriptive design undergirded the study; and semi-structured interviews were adopted as a data collection method. Further, six students with physical disabilities from the University of Limpopo were purposively sampled and data was analysed through a thematic content analysis (TCA). Furthermore, the environmental barriers affecting students with disabilities were identified, analysed and the possible recommendations were provided. The findings indicate that the inaccessibility of buildings and uncomfortable surfaces within the university premises are the major environmental barriers which lowering the students with physical disabilities' sense of belonging, self-esteem as well as inhibiting their academic performance. Thus, the study recommends that the institutions of higher learning should provision the students with disabilities with reasonable accommodation for successful learning purposes.