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The education of children with disabilities in South African online news reports

Walton, Elizabeth; McKenzie, Judith

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Authors

Judith McKenzie



Abstract

Many disabled children are not attending schools in South Africa, despite policies that promote inclusive education. Quite often, online news articles (re)visit this topic. Using a critical literacy approach, and informed by critical disability studies, this chapter analyses online news articles, showing that certain tropes are rehearsed. These are an emphasis on the large numbers of disabled children out of school, individual stories of educational neglect, and critiques of teachers, schools, and the government. These tropes have the effect of casting the education of disabled children in South Africa as problem, rather than a right. The problem is presented as so overwhelming that it is ultimately unsolvable. Disabled children and their families are portrayed as the pitiable victims of unfortunate circumstances with detailed stories that emphasise their ‘otherness’. We argue that instead of promoting affirming disability awareness and advocacy, and locating the experiences of disabled children and young people within a context of systemic discrimination and oppression, the articles do little more than evoke shock and pity. We call for news articles to portray disability in more complex and nuanced ways, which allows individual agency without resorting to stereotypes, and to challenge ableist views of disability as deficit.

Citation

Walton, E., & McKenzie, J. (2020). The education of children with disabilities in South African online news reports. In Disability, Media, and Representations: Other Bodies. Routledge

Acceptance Date Sep 8, 2019
Online Publication Date Feb 27, 2020
Publication Date Mar 4, 2020
Deposit Date Nov 1, 2019
Publicly Available Date Aug 28, 2021
Publisher Routledge
Book Title Disability, Media, and Representations: Other Bodies
ISBN 9781138603011
Public URL https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/3006755
Publisher URL https://www.routledge.com/Disability-Media-and-Representations-Other-Bodies/Johanssen-Garrisi/p/book/9781138603011
Additional Information This is an Accepted Manuscript of a book chapter published by Routledge in Disability, Media, and Representations: Other Bodies on 04/03/2020, available online: http://www.routledge.com/Disability-Media-and-Representations-Other-Bodies/Johanssen-Garrisi/p/book/9781138603011
Contract Date Nov 1, 2019

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