Provision of Assistive Technology for Students with Disabilities in South African Higher Education

Ndlovu, Sibonokuhle

doi:10.3390/ijerph18083892

Cited by 19 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…In order to maintain essential life functions, older people with long-term care needs often tend to rely on the care and services of others. The emergence of assistive technology has enabled the people with disabilities to improve their lives and even complete more complex tasks independently [ 4 , 7 ].…”

Section: Literature Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using Machine Learning to Explore the Crucial Factors of Assistive Technology Assessments: Cases of Wheelchairs

Fang

Ping

2022

Healthcare

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The global population is gradually entering an aging society; chronic diseases and functional disabilities have increased, thereby increasing the number of people with limitations. Therefore, the demand for assistive devices has increased substantially. Due to numerous and complex types of assistive devices, an assessment by a professional therapist is required to help the individual find a suitable assistive device. According to actual site data, the assessment needs of “wheelchairs” accounted for most of the cases. Therefore, this study identified five key evaluation characteristics (head condition, age, pelvic condition, cognitive ability, and judgment) for “transit wheelchairs” and “reclining and tilting wheelchairs” from the diagnostic records of “wheelchairs” using the classification and regression trees (CART) decision tree algorithm. Furthermore, the study established an evaluation model through the Naïve Bayes classification method and obtained an accuracy rate of 72.0% after a 10-fold cross-validation. Finally, the study considered users’ convenience and combined it with a LINE BOT to allow the user or the user’s family to engage in self-evaluation. Preliminary suggestions for wheelchair types were given through the assessment model so that evaluators could not only determine a case’s situation in advance and reduce the time required for fixed-point or home assessments, but also help cases find the appropriate wheelchair type more easily and quickly.

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Section: Literature Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using Machine Learning to Explore the Crucial Factors of Assistive Technology Assessments: Cases of Wheelchairs

Fang

Ping

2022

Healthcare

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“…Funda ( 2020 ) believed that unless all teachers, teacher-administrators and non-disabled learners understand disability, disabled learners will be marginalised and stigmatised in mainstream schools because of a lack of political will from the government and support from the school authorities. Ndlovu ( 2020 ) shared a similar view although not exactly like Funda ( 2020 ) because Ndlovu ( 2020 ) did not raise political will in the narrative. Consequentially, disabled cohorts are commonly perceived as a source of extra costs within mainstream learning systems (Ostendorf 2020 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Towards interventions on school dropouts for disabled learners amidst and post-COVID-19 pandemic

Makuyana

2022

African Journal of Disability

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Background: Despite objective arguments for inclusive education, there is a dearth of mechanisms to reduce dropouts amongst disabled learners in the extant literature. Thus, this article is one of the outputs of a study, which was conducted after a consistent observation of dwindling numbers of disabled learners who succeed in basic education in South Africa. Of late, the dropout rate increased because of adherence to lock down regulations amidst the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. This triggered the need for research on co-creating interventions to mitigate the rate of dropouts amongst disabled learners.Objective: The article explores underlying obstacles that induce school dropouts for disabled learners amidst and post-COVID-19 and postulates interventions accordingly.Methods: Descriptive-narrative research upheld reality as emerging from empirical experiences of parents and guardians of disabled children, heads of primary and secondary schools, social workers, the Department of Social Development and Basic Education, and provincial associations for disabled persons that focus on children. Lived experience-based opinions were obtained from provinces with different economic growth, namely, Limpopo and Gauteng. Forty-one in-depth one-on-one interviews and two focus group discussions used Google Meet. The collected data were analysed using Creswell’s qualitative data analysis framework (steps) and Atlas.ti.8.Results: The findings show a consistent pattern that the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the parents and guardians’ fear of exposing and risking their learners to the health crisis. Based on the parents and guardians’ narrative, mainstream school administrations discriminate and are unwilling to enrol disabled learners. Furthermore, the narrative from the school leadership shows that teachers use exclusive teaching and learning methods for the enrolled disabled learners because of ignorance, misconception, misunderstanding, misinterpretation of disability, disability inclusion, and reasonable accommodation.Conclusion: Based on the finding, it is clear that dropouts amongst disabled learners can be alleviated by using a systematic multi-stakeholder local community-based intervention approach. This, therefore, implies that government authorities and agencies should incorporate disability into mainstream policies that guide planning, budgeting, staffing, and mobilisation of other resources. This would ideally enhance the provision of learning opportunities to disabled learners whilst supporting their diverse educational needs without dichotomies set by ‘ability and disability’, or normal and abnormal. In this manner, inclusive education can contribute to the educational success of disabled learners through developing sustainability and resilience amongst disabled learners.

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“…Students living with disabilities frequently experience difficulties with functionality, resultant from their deficiencies, as well as inaccessibility with respect to the social and physical environments they may find themselves in, thereby limiting their functionality. Recognised as a human right, governments around the globe, in Africa and in South Africa, made a commitment to facilitate education by empowering every individual to gain admission to learning (Ndlovu, 2021). Governments and HEIs should ensure that AT is available to disabled individuals, because there seems to be a significant disparity across countries in collaboration, in terms of the availability of funds to make online collaboration possible (Hersh & Mouroutsou, 2015).…”

Section: De Klerk and Palmermentioning

confidence: 99%

Technology inclusion for students living with disabilities through collaborative online learning during and beyond a pandemic

Klerk

Palmer

2022

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Technology-based platforms in higher education institutions (HEIs), including online learning, require innovative approaches to ensure inclusive and transformative educational spaces for students living with disabilities. Achieving social equality, technology access and inclusion may contribute to ensuring a seamless instructional design for students living with disabilities in HEIs amid and beyond COVID-19. COVID-19 has obliged HEIs to adopt alternatives to learning and teaching, making the use of open distance learning (ODL) amid the pandemic more relevant. This theoretical paper considers the significance of ODL by demonstrating how to achieve technology inclusion for students living with disabilities through collaborative online international learning (COIL). Situated within the collaborative learning theory, this paper offers a disability perspective to learning in HEIs, through an analysis of stipulations in the Strategic Policy Framework on Disability for the Post-School Education and Training System (2018). The findings indicate that the application of COIL for students living with disabilities may transform their learning experiences and unlock new pathways for their development. The paper recommends that COIL may be used as a response to ensuring access and inclusive education provision for students living with disabilities in HEIs.

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Provision of Assistive Technology for Students with Disabilities in South African Higher Education

Cited by 19 publications

References 44 publications

Using Machine Learning to Explore the Crucial Factors of Assistive Technology Assessments: Cases of Wheelchairs

Using Machine Learning to Explore the Crucial Factors of Assistive Technology Assessments: Cases of Wheelchairs

Towards interventions on school dropouts for disabled learners amidst and post-COVID-19 pandemic

Technology inclusion for students living with disabilities through collaborative online learning during and beyond a pandemic

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