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Training teachers of learners with visual impairment (VI) emphasise instrumental skills such as curriculum adaptation and assistive technology, at times ignoring anxieties and attitudes within teachers surrounding disability. South Africa's education system faces a huge backlog in VI teacher training, which is being addressed by intensive short courses developed through the Teacher Empowerment for Disability Inclusion (TEDI) project. With only 5 days of contact, hard choices must be made regarding what teachers most need to prepare for the VI learner. The Authors felt that personal and attitudinal shifts (in teachers entirely new to VI) were pivotal. Besides 'harder' skills, trainees took part (as audience) in a daily panel discussion by four academically successful VI graduates, with experiences of both inclusive and special education. The panel strategy had five aims: (i) counter stereotypes by showcasing high-achieving VI persons; (ii) provide humanising, first-hand experience of VI; (iii) raise and digest difficult emotions to do with VI; (iv) model a sense of mutual acceptance between learners and teachers and (v) add humour and lightness to difficult issues. This paper presents qualitative data on the outcomes of these aims, based on written submissions by panellists, and questionnaire and focus group material from trainees.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper was to explore the development of the professional identity of South African intern psychologists during the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper -- that presents a historical reflection borne from a significant moment in time -- aimed to capture what the authors can learn from this specific cohort of intern psychologists and their experiences of work-based learning. Design/methodology/approach: Through the lens of the interpretative phenomenological approach, the authors analysed seven semi-structured interviews. Data analysis involved a line-by-line analysis of each individual transcript, where after a thorough, in-depth analysis was conducted across all the cases. Findings: Against the background of the COVID-19 pandemic, the findings demonstrated the interns' initial uncertainties, severe exhaustion, perceived gaps in their training, and resilience despite unusual and difficult circumstances in their WBL internship. Research limitations: The study was limited to seven intern psychologists in South Africa. Practical implications: The findings suggest that support -- during and after the COVID-19 pandemic -- is crucial throughout the training of psychologists and means to facilitate and develop professional identity and resilience. This will provide the opportunity to safeguard emerging healthcare professionals from burnout while simultaneously advocating for supportive WBL and continual professional development spaces protecting healthcare professionals and the public. Originality/value: With this article, we explored the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the professional identity development of intern psychologists (psychologists in training). The authors expand on the aforementioned original contribution, since the authors situate their research within the Global South. More specifically, the authors explored how intern psychologists' developed their professional identities against the backdrop of a largely resource-scarce context of South Africa.

Within the last two decades, the South African government drafted impressive policies to fully include and accommodate students with visual impairments within higher education. However, in interviews with 23 students with visual impairments at two South African universities, we found that legislation has yet to fully permeate the embodied experiences of these students. Despite stringent policies, lecturers still have the power to decide whether they want to accommodate students with reasonable requests. Second, students carry a tremendous amount of responsibility in procuring reasonable accommodations. Third, the Apartheid regime that left many marginalised groups impoverished still disadvantages some Black students with visual impairments. We suggest that students and lecturers might benefit from clear guidelines regarding their roles and responsibilities. Students should also receive information regarding their legal rights.

While the COVID‐19 pandemic disrupted education across the globe, special needs schools in middle‐ and low‐income countries were particularly affected. Learners in these contexts often did not have access to assistive technologies and individualised adaptations of materials in their home environment. This study aimed to explore the experiences of special needs educators regarding how lockdown restrictions had impacted their educational practices. In‐depth, semistructured interviews were conducted with 12 special needs educators across the Gauteng and Western Cape provinces of South Africa and were analysed through the lens of interpretive phenomenological analysis. Three themes emerged from the interviews. First, the teachers discussed the ways in which they ensured that the curriculum continued during the period of hard lockdown. Second, they discussed the challenges of remote teaching, and lastly, they addressed the challenges when the learners returned to face‐to‐face learning. These themes shed light on the teachers' flexibility, creativity and ability to improvise within uncertain, unpredictable and unfamiliar educational terrains. We draw the conclusion that it was largely due to positive teacher–learner relationships and the commitment by teachers that improvisation and creativity were possible and effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although South Africa has numerous impressive policies for inclusion, the unfortunate fact on the ground is that the rhetoric of inclusion is still not reflected in reality. The majority of students with visual impairments are still in special schools where they have to contend with very poor learning conditions. For example, in 2015, 17 out of the 22 special schools for students with visual impairments did not receive sufficient textbooks. It is therefore not difficult to imagine that many students with visual impairments in South Africa may be ill-prepared for higher education. In this study, we explored the special school memories of 13 students with severe visual impairments from one South African university. In particular, we heard their retrospective recollections of the extent to which they felt prepared for higher education after they completed formal schooling. We listened to their stories in one individual, semi-structured interview and made sense of their accounts through the lens of interpretative phenomenological analysis. Results suggest that students were not prepared for the academic and social demands of higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract\nPoints of interestHealthcare access poses particular challenges to individuals with visual impairments, particularly regarding pharmaceutical products and services. In this study, we showcase how the context of a low- and middle-income country poses particularly compromising experiences within pharmacies for persons with visual impairments. The current study explores the experiences and needs of 21 participants with visual impairments within pharmacies. Through the lens of the relational ethics of care, we demonstrate, first, the importance of a trusting relationship between individuals with visual impairments and pharmacy staff as well as the responsibility that rests on participants to establish the afore-mentioned trusting relationship, and second, shameful experiences within the pharmacy, centering around threats to privacy. In many respects, a collaborative relationship between pharmacy staff and their visually impaired clientele results in a satisfactory experience for the latter. However, as far as sensitive information, services and products are concerned, participants generally feel vulnerable and uncomfortably visible.We explore the experiences within pharmacies of 21 South Africans with visual impairments.We demonstrate that a collaborative relationship between pharmacy staff and their visually impaired clientele leads to a satisfactory experience for the latter.We furthermore show that shameful experiences within the pharmacy largely centre around threats to privacy.We recommend training for pharmacy staff members to raise their awareness and sensitivity towards visually impaired clientele. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this autoethnography, BW and I explore the various ways in which my experiences of lockdown during the Coronavirus pandemic are not altogether different from my everyday experiences as a visually impaired person. Further, we make sense of my experience that, notwithstanding the social world's expression of feelings about lockdown and social distancing, my own reactions to disability-imposed lockdown remain unrecognized, invalidated and unseen. Making sense of these experiences of invisibility is essential, since it is only when our experiences are truly contemplated by others that we can have the hope of being fully known. In this paper, my co-author and I explain the various ways in which my experiences of lockdown during the Coronavirus pandemic are not altogether different from my everyday experiences as a visually impaired person; I provide examples to illustrate that there are anxiety-provoking challenges lurking outside my home; Yet, giving in to these anxieties and being confined to my home is too painful to give in to; While my everyday experiences are, too some extent, what the world is experiencing at the current moment with social distancing and lockdown, my feelings about disability-imposed lockdown remain unrecognized, invalidated and unseen; It is important to voice and make known these realities, For it is only when our experiences are truly seen—when we are completely known—that we can move towards self-acceptance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While disability scholars are increasingly exploring the experiences of disabled employees within the academe, there seemingly does not exist literature on this topic in South Africa. In this autoethnography, I make sense of my experiences as a visually impaired university lecturer. I dissect my continual performances of able-bodiedness – my efforts to conceal truths around my disability – despite a seemingly inclusive work environment. I discuss the psychological cost of these performances and, lastly, illustrate the importance of a creative, open and responsive attitude on the part of nondisabled colleagues and managers to help their disabled colleagues to become their true and authentic self. While literature on the experiences of Black academics is on the rise, very few studies investigate the experiences of disabled academics; Currently, there is no literature that tells the stories of disabled academics within South Africa; In this autoethnography, I narrate aspects of my experiences as an academic with a visual impairment; In this paper, I unravel my continual able-bodied performances within the academy and the cost thereof; Lastly, I discuss the importance of open and responsive relationships between managers and disabled academics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I argue that using autoethnography as a vehicle to narrate the disabled self could be therapeutic for disabled persons, since it could unlock the unconscious, silenced parts of the self. Disabled persons often keep quiet about the thorny segments of their lives, because they learn that it is too anxiety-provoking for nondisabled listeners. Yet, it is often in the painful stories of disabled persons where external and internal oppressions meet. Uncovering hidden truths will inevitably reveal an inaccessible and often hostile world and the myriad ways in which these find root in the psyche of disabled persons. The notion that writing personal lifestories could be therapeutic is nothing new; In this paper I argue that writing a personal story, and making theoretical sense of experiences embedded within it, could be particularly therapeutic for disabled persons; Disabled persons often learn, from a very young age, to deny the painful parts of their experience; Writing about and reflecting upon personal experiences can help disabled persons to welcome these painful parts of their experience, that they are not aware of, back into their bodies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Scholars agree that effective rehabilitation relies on a bedrock of reciprocity, relational trust, and authenticity. It is therefore essential for practitioners to develop insight into the complex dynamics within helping relationships. This study aims to provide an in-depth understanding of visually impaired students' experience of informal helping relationships. Methods: Ten visually impaired students at a South African university participated in one of two semi-structured focus group interviews (six and four in each group, respectively) wherein we explored their experience of informal helping relationships. Interpretive phenomenological analysis was used to make sense of the data. Results: Help, according to the participants, can militate against visibility and complete acceptance, and has the potential to cause helpers to feel entrapped. By contrast, some students found that help offered benefits to relationships by boosting the helper's self-esteem and affording disabled students the opportunity to make friends. Conclusion: Decisions whether to accept help were mediated more by relationship factors than by the need for help. These findings are important for rehabilitation professionals, as deep relationship can come into being during the course of a rehabilitation process. Although this study was conducted in an informal setting, the relational dynamics that we explore are also applicable to clinical relationships between disabled persons and rehabilitation professionals. In this paper, we provide an overview of the intricacies involved in care and helping relationships; In order for rehabilitation to be successful, these relationships should ideally be real, trusting, and authentic; Yet, authenticity and spontaneity often get lost in helping relationships, as help-recipients may deny help when they need it, and accept help when perfectly able to cope without it. These decisions are mediated more by relationship factors than by the need for help; In their daily practice, it is essential for health professionals to be mindful of these relational intricacies within care relationships; We recommend that professionals remain motivated to continuously reflect on their own actions and on the emotional investment they might have in their role as a helper; Our last recommendation is for rehabilitation professionals to spend energy on exploring, through open and transparent discussions with their disabled patients, the relational dynamics in their relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The politics of silence is central to disability experience and the field of disability studies. In this analytical autoethnography, I write about my silences as a visually impaired woman. I explore and make sense of personal life stories through a theoretical perspective. The analysis of these personal experiences lead me to argue that disability-related silences are mostly created through the confluence of inaccessible physical and social environments and the psychological internalisation of these worlds. I also discuss the ways in which I am currently regaining my voice. Further research on resistance by disabled persons is recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although previous literature sheds light on the experiences of visually impaired students on tertiary grounds, these studies failed to provide an embodied understanding of their lives. In-depth interviews with 15 visually impaired students at one university demonstrated the ways in which they experienced their disability and the built environment in their bodies. At the same time, lost, fearful, shameful and aching bodies revealed prevailing gaps in provision for disabled students. Through this research it becomes clear how the environment is acutely felt within fleshly worlds, while bodies do not fail to tell of disabling societal structures. Based on the bodily stories, we thus make recommendations to improve the lives of visually impaired students on tertiary campuses. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Issues of visibility, invisibility and the non-disabled gaze are very relevant to the lives of many disabled persons. With this article we tentatively show that, despite the physical ‘over’-visibility of disabled bodies, many intricate parts of their personhood remain obscured and invisible. Interviews with 23 students with a visual impairment revealed that they sometimes experienced stares and averted gazes from their sighted counterparts. In response, they often hid their entire impairment, or parts thereof, in an effort to conform and gain acceptance and to earn membership to a non-disabled peer group. Acceptance was often found in companionship with fellow disabled peers. Since these stories told of continuing exclusion for disabled students on tertiary grounds, further participatory research is recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

People with visual impairment face significant material challenges to access and inclusion in South Africa. These are in large part rooted in and supported by prejudiced assumptions about the needs, nature and capabilities of this group. The cultural and psychological face of oppression needs to be attended to. To this end, this viewpoint brings together the work of three visually impaired scholars in three key areas pertaining to the promotion of the inclusion and citizenship of visually impaired persons in South Africa. These areas are education; rehabilitation; and social inclusion and visibility. This work argues that undoing lifelong exclusion requires examining how disablism is embedded in the very fabric of our societies and operational at various levels: material, administrative, cultural and relational., Competing Interests: The authors have no competing interests to declare., (Copyright: © 2024 The Author(s).)