The University’s section of the Department of Student Affairs, the Student Counselling Unit is providing means to ensure that new and returning students with disabilities receive the assistance they require as they register for the 2025 academic year. Lindiwe Chamane, the Student Counsellor and Disability Coordinator at the Student Counselling Unit, said they have set up a tent at the gate, main campus, to provide information and the help they need. “We have eight Peer Helpers that are posted to do the following roles during registration: identify and escort new and returning students with disabilities (SWD’s) to different registration stations; attend to students with temporal disabilities, for instance, those who return from University recess with limb fractures; diarize cases for follow-up and capturing daily statistics; identify areas of improvement in the SWD registration support process and registration process overall; and establish a good working relationship with the staff,” said Chamane. She confirmed that the initiative will be available first and second-semester academic registration periods.
Chamane said the reasons for advertising their services were that most students with disabilities come from communities where disability is poorly understood and discriminated against. “As a result, these students fear continued marginalization and possible academic exclusion if they disclose their disability status. Unfortunately, non-disclosure of disability prevents these students from receiving the support and advocacy which the Student Counselling Unit is committed to providing.
The common disabilities that students have are visual impairment, hearing impairment, mobility issues including wheelchair users, hand/ finger deformity, and learning disabilities. Explaining how they deal with disability issues, Chamane said they considered all disabilities as unique and require an individualised, holistic approach which consists of multi-disciplinary team members from Student Counselling, Campus Health Services, Transport Department, Protection Services, Student Housing, Student Funding Office, as well as external stakeholders like public health facilities. The Student Counselling Unit has taken some measures to deal with the growing number of students with disabilities. For instance, the Unit has undertaken benchmarking exercises with other institutions, to ascertain disability support best practices. Last year it hosted a delegation from the University of KwaZulu-Natal that came to discuss disability issues in higher education. The Unit also relies on collaborations and support from internal partners such as IT &N, TLDC, academics, the Operations and Infrastructure Directorate, and Student Housing.