Disability and Social Change

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A South African agenda This powerful volume represents the broadest engagement with disability issues in South Africa yet. Themes include theoretical approaches to and representations of disability, governmental and civil society responses to disability, aspects of education as these pertain to the oppression / liberation of disabled people, social security for disabled people, the complex politics permeating service provision relationships, and consideration of disability in relation to human spaces - physical, economic and philosophical. Noteworthy is the inclusivity of its nearly fifty contributors, many of whom write both as disabled South Africans and as educators, parents, linguists, psychologists, human rights activists, entrepreneurs, mental health practitioners, academics, and NGO and government officials. Equally stimulating is the range of writing styles, including interviews, a provocatively stark contrasting of voices in a chapter on Psychiatric Disability and Social Change, various well crafted articles on theoretical issues and the autobiographical style of many of the contributions. Firmly located within the social model of disability, this collection will resonate powerfully with contemporary thinking and research in the disability field and will set the benchmark for cutting-edge debates in a transforming South Africa.

Theoretical approaches to disability

• Disability and the environment (Marguerite Schneider)
• Developing disability studies programmes: The international context (Mark Priestley)
• Disability and psychoanalysis (Brian Watermeyer)

Government and societal responses to disability

• A history of the disability rights movement in South Africa (Colleen Howell, Shuaib Chalklen and Thomas Alberts)
• Integrating disability within government: The Office on the Status of Disabled Persons (OSDP) (Sebenzile Matsebula, Marguerite Schneider and Brian Watermeyer)
• Establishing the Secretariat for the African Decade of Persons with Disabilities (Shuaib Chalklen, Leslie Swartz and Brian Watermeyer)
• Disability and human rights: The South African Human Rights Commission (Charlotte McClain Nhlapo, Brian Watermeyer and Marguerite Schneider)
• HIV/AIDS and disability: New challenges (Leslie Swartz, Marguerite Schneider and Poul Rohleder)
• How could she possibly manage in court? An intervention programme assisting complainants with intellectual disabilities in sexual assault cases in the Western Cape (Beverley Dickman, Amanda Roux, Susan Manson, Gillian Douglas and Nokuthula Shabalala)
• Language policy and South African Sign Language: Interpreters in the public service (Marion Heap and Helen Morgans)

Disability and education

• Disability and schooling in South Africa (Crain Soudien and Jean Baxen)
• Disabled students and higher education in South Africa (Colleen Howell)
• Developing a Disability Studies programme: Engaging activism and academia for social change (Theresa Lorenzo, Mzolisi ka Toni and Mark Priestley)
• Developing literacy with deaf adults (Meryl Glaser and Theresa Lorenzo)

Disability, poverty, and social Security

• Disability, poverty, gender and race (Tony Emmett)
• Tough choices: Disability and social security in South Africa (Leslie Swartz and Marguerite Schneider)
• Issues in disability assessment (Ruth Watson, Marion Fourie and Joan Andrews)

Disability and service provision

• Physically disabled women and discrimination in reproductive health care: Psychoanalytic reflections (Nokwanele Mgwili and Brian Watermeyer)
• Community based rehabilitation: New challenges (Sarah Rule, Theresa Lorenzo and Milani Wolmarans)
• Psychiatric disability and social change: An insider perspective (Siyabulela K and Madelaine Duncan)
• Parents and Therapists: Dilemmas in partnership (Judy McKenzie and Bronwen Mller)

Disability and human spaces

• Disability and universal access: Observations on housing from the spatial and social periphery (Justine Coulson, Mark Napier and Gertrude Matsebe)
• Disability and homelessness: A personal journey from the margins to the centre and back (Gubela Mji)
• Entrepreneurship, employment and skills: Ari Seirlis in conversation (Ari Seirlis and Leslie Swartz)
• Media and disability (Jane Stadler)
• Ag Shame and superheroes: Stereotype and the signification of disability (Kathleen McDougall)

Brian Watermeyer was until recently Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Cape Town.

Leslie Swartz is Professor of Psychology at the University of Stellenbosch and Director in the Child,
Youth, Family and Social Development research programme at the HSRC.

Marguerite Schneider is a Chief Research Manager in the Child, Youth, Family and Social Development research programme of the HSRC where she heads the disability studies research focus.

Dr Thereza Lorenzo is a Senior Lecturer in the Division of Occupational Therapy in the School of
Health and Rehabilitation Sciences at the University of Cape Town.

Dr Mark Priestley is Reader in the Centre for Disability Studies at the University of Leeds.