Most older teachers not equipped to teach children with special needs

In 2011 the Swaziland Ministry of Education and Training formulated a policy on Inclusive Education. One of the fundamental objectives was to allow child with special educational needs (SEN) to enroll in the mainstream at their local schools and avoid a situation whereby the child is uprooted from his or her environment and made to start life somewhere else without the support of the parent and outside their normal environment. However, some teachers have come forward lamenting that they are not equipped to teach children with special educational needs, even though they want to, owing to the fact that they were not trained for it.

Local teacher training institutions have over the years started to put some emphasis on special needs, which teachers who have been in the field for longer say was not the case before. A teacher at a school in Mbabane, Muzi Shongwe* said there was lack of capacity building to empower teachers to better assist the learners. He trained at Southern Africa Nazarene University (SANU) and started teaching in 1994. Shongwe said in most government schools, there was lack of programmes and resources suitable for the challenged child, and the infrastructure was not conducive to the needs of the children. “The policy on inclusive education is a very noble initiative. But we lack political will. The policy only exists on paper. My heart bleeds for those children. Just like any other, they have a future. They have dreams. We cannot exclude them based on the special circumstances,” he said.

Ministry of Education and Training Senior Inspector for Special Education Needs, Cebsile Nxumalo disputed that the policy existed only on paper, asserting that schools that had embraced the principles of Inclusive Education were improving their policies, teaching and learning and resourcing approaches to cater for diversity in their classrooms.

Shongwe said the situation would improve if government capacitated teachers by either paying for or subsidising their studies in special needs training.  He also recommended that the National Curriculm Centre should design a relevant curriculum specific to the needs of the children and that resources must be provided to enhance the programmes. “My school has limited collaboration with Ekwetsembeni Special School. They assist with activities that can be assigned to the learners and how to manage them. We’ve also engaged inspectors from the Ministry on capacity building. Mid to long term, we encourage our staff members to enroll at the university. But before that happens, the children’s future looks bleak, sadly,” said Shongwe.

Responding to Shongwe’s grievance that there were no adequate resources to help children with special needs in schools, Nxumalo said resources were multifaceted. They could be financial, material, or otherwise, and the ministry encouraged schools to identify the specific resources they needed and then include those resources in their school development plan and budget.  “Where they need external support, they then make the SEN unit aware of the specific support they require.  The Ministry has over the years supported schools in this regard,” she said. Nxumalo also said there was no separate curriculum, adding that the ideal situation would rather be to modify and adapt the existing curriculum to suit the needs of every learner in the classroom. 

Nxumalo said all teachers who go through a Primary Teachers Diploma or Secondary Teacher's Diploma in all the teacher training colleges do Special Needs training from 1st to 3rd year.  “This has been the case since 2009.  Therefore, teachers now graduate with a good base on SEN issues.  In each primary school we therefore expect that there are one or two teachers who have done SEN. Furthermore, the SEN unit does run capacity building workshops for school. This means every year we select a few schools (primary and high schools) to benefit from the workshops. The number of schools to benefit is determined by the funds we have that year for running workshops,” said Nxumalo.

Although Nxumalo said since 2009 all teachers had been receiving SEN training, another teacher who graduated from Swaziland College of Technology in 2012 emphatically denied that he ever got such training. He, however, went on to teach at a special school. Fortunately for Mukelwe Dlamini*, he has since enrolled with SANU for a degree in Inclusive Education and Special Needs. “I was learning by doing and experimenting with the children because I had no clue how to teach them. Sometimes whatever strategy I used would win, sometimes not,” he said when quizzed on how he managed to teach the children with no training. Dlamini said the only special skill he possessed was that he could use sign fluently, which placed him in good stead with the deaf students at the school. He undertook to learn sign language for his own personal development even before he went for tertiary education. Since enrolling for the studies with SANU, Dlamini said he feels a lot more confident and empowered to teach learners with special needs. “Now I understand that learners are diverse and that the one-size-fits-all approach which I employed before is not necessarily the way to go. I am learning different strategies one may employ to teach my students,” he said. He added that he was grateful to SRA for sponsoring his studies, and that he was fortunate because there were many teachers who knew nothing on SEN, yet some of them were teaching such children.

Although there might be some advancement in equipping teachers for SEN, what is very clear is that there are many teachers that graduated before a proper roll out of the training that are still out in the cold. It is a genuine concern that should really be addressed with the seriousness it deserves, because the end result is a child with special needs who remains illiterate even as he attends school; all because his/her teacher doesn’t know what to do with him. In some circumstances, parents are requested to withdraw their child from school because the teachers have thrown in the towel on that child. Children might end up staying at home or being forced to commute to distant special schools. 

*Names changed on request

Finding Ability in Disability

“God show me where no one is going, that’s where I want to go, somewhere I will make a resounding change.” That was Maggie Sambo’s prayer when she felt a sudden urge to give back to the community. Sambo is a somatologist and owner of Nail Bar and Beauty Studio behind The George Hotel, in Manzini.

Deafness is usually a barrier to employment for affected individuals. People have misconceptions about the competence of deaf people in the workplace, and companies might not want the extra expense of hiring a sign language interpreter. In her ebook What Every Deaf Person Needs to Know, Sarah Terras, who is also deaf, mentions that one of the reasons why employers won’t hire deaf people is the communication difficulty. “The employers who work in a fast-paced environment may not have time to write notes back and forth between them and deaf employees,” she said. Sambo looked beyond all this and took 10 deaf students under her wing to train them in the beauty industry, even though she knew no sign language clue. Slowly she learned how to sign and is now so fluent that she interpreted when I spoke to one of her staff members, Sifiso Dlamini.

It was in 2010 when she got her first batch of students from Siteki School for the Deaf. Since they were not originally from Manzini and would have struggled with bus fare, she accommodated them and saw to all their needs in her home in Ngwane Park; all 10 of them! “When it’s a calling it doesn’t feel burdensome,” she said.

Sambo expressed her gratitude to Dups for all the assistance they rendered buying student kits and footing the cost of their graduation ceremony. She was also grateful to some customers that would drop by and observe that there were many deaf students in training and would just bring a bucket from KFC, shoes, toiletries, clothes or any other help they could offer. After the training, Sambo employed her former students and placed some of them at other salons. Over the years, some have moved to other places, while others have stayed on. One of them is Sifiso.

Sambo had glowing remarks about Sifiso, who she said took his work seriously. She said he was the first person to come and open the shop, and the last person to leave the shop. He does not need prompting to clean up the shop and doesn’t complain about carrying out extra duties. Sambo said Sifiso was as good as a somatologist now because he does everything in the business, and he was the best student, beating the girls that he trained with.

Sifiso said he loved doing nails, hair and massages and wouldn’t choose anything else in life. He’s very proud of the fact that most women prefer to have him, not his female colleagues, do their nails because they say the nails done by the girls break quickly while the ones he does are strong. He gets more tips than any other worker in the shop and when he is unavailable, ladies prefer to go back home and wait for him to come back because he gives exceptional service.

Not everyone knows how to carry themselves around Sifiso and other deaf people in the salon. Sambo said there were people who came and openly showed their contempt of being attended to by deaf people. “Some people get in here with a very negative attitude like, “This person can’t talk so what does her know?”  I make it clear that I will not stand for that. I would rather lose the customer than lose my deaf employee. I tell them these children are going to be here, they are not going anywhere. I trained them so why would I chase them away? You better get used to their presence here.

Sambo lamented that deaf people went to school but many of them just ended up going home to sit as not many people are willing to give them an opportunity to work. “The problem is the attitude society has. Most people think that when a person if deaf, that person has weak brain function but that cannot be further from the truth. They are very intelligent. Sifiso is very good at detecting anomalies like blood circulation or knots when he gives massages. If you get a foot massage from him you’ll sleep the whole day. Sometimes I think that because he doesn’t have speech, God made up for it by giving him such incredible intelligence and the ability to do things perfectly,” she said.

Sifiso now has a driving license and is the one that goes out to buy supplies for the salon and do the banking. Sambo sometimes has to force him to go home and rest when he’s under the weather because nothing stops him from wanting to come to work. He still turns up even on his day off, citing the need to make extra money for himself. After he started getting a salary, he moved out of Sambo’s house and now has his own place. She is in awe of his wisdom and what he has managed to accomplish all by himself. He says he doesn’t buy household goods on credit but by layby to avoid being in debt. “I’ve learned that there is a lot of ability in people classified as disabled,” said Sambo.

She said her next project with students from Siteki School for the Deaf is in limbo as they await sponsorship. A salon has already been set up but the children need help in the form of kits (the batch of cosmetics needed to see them through their training). “As much as I want to help, I also need additional support. I can offer my skills, but the beauty products needed for the kits are very expensive. If people or companies could just come forward and sponsor a certain number of students, we would be very happy,” she added.

Is your language healing or inflammatory?

The National Center on Disability and Journalism, headquartered at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University has a brilliant website with terms and words used in the world of people with disabilities. Their website states that their goal is to provide support and guidance for journalists as they cover people with disabilities. This resource is one that would help journalist worldwide to have a reference point when they are stuck or unsure of how to address issues to do with disability. They do recommend, however, that it is a good thing for a journalists or communications person to ask the person with a disability how they would like to be described. Despite our geographical distance with that institution, there is a lot to learn from the recommendations they make. It would be a good thing if everyone, not just journalists, visited such sites to learn the appropriate way to relate with people with disabilities.

People say many inappropriate things in society when they refer to people with disabilities. Before one can even go to discriminatory attitude, words are usually the first to show prejudice. This is particularly obtainable in respect of people with mental illnesses. A degree of sensitivity will go a long way in improving the quality of life of such people. There are various disorders that constitute mental illness. Without getting into detail, some of them are anxiety and panic disorders, bipolar disorder, depression, eating disorders, schizophrenia, and substance abuse and addiction. In a discussion unrelated to this article, though quite relevant to it, Dr Violet Mwanjali, a Psychiatrist and Mental Health Specialist, said many people went through life with untreated mental illness because of fear of stigma. She highlighted that many forms of mental illness were treatable and affected individuals could actually be contributing members of society if they stuck to their treatment plans.  Language that is used in relation to mental illness, however, might serve to discourage people from embracing their disability and finding intervention. This in turn causes a lot of turmoil in the lives of affected individuals, their families, and society at large. I remember a shocking local headline that referred to mentally ill people as “Stark raving lunatics”. It is totally unacceptable to use abrasive language like that towards fellow human beings. Other bad words journalists and ordinary people use on people with mental illness are crazy, loony, mad, maniac, psycho, insane, retarded, and deranged. Others call psychiatric hospitals “loony bins”. In light of that, a person with a mental illness would not be motivated to openly declare his/her illness for fear of being persecuted, yet it is a medical condition just like any other. The NCDJ recommends the use of mental illness or disorder, if you don’t know the specific illness, as more acceptable than any other terms.

People should find time to research more on mental illnesses, particularly if they have affected loved ones around them. It is not enough to just see that someone is “acting weird” and not take action. I believe much heartache and many suicides could be averted if people educated themselves on what sets their loved ones with signs of mental illness off, and tried to get them prompt medical attention. It is possible for someone to feel themselves sink into a dark place, but it is not easy to accept a mental illness diagnosis because of the stigma associated with it. People with diabetes do not have to hide in the shadows because theirs is not a victimized condition.

Dwarfism is a common genetic disability characterised by shortness of stature and disproportionately short limbs. Any adult human below the height of 147 cm is considered to have dwarfism. Because of lack of empathy or sheer ignorance, there are many names thrown at people with dwarfism. I have heard many terrible names, targeted at poking fun at their height, given to them in many languages. Some just call them Shorty, Giant, or other names that still show they are finding humour in the person’s disability. I know some people with dwarfism that laugh along at jokes made on them. This could just be a survival strategy and does not mean they are delighted to have jokes made at their expense.  Some people feel it is more acceptable to call people with this condition “midgets”, but that is also regarded as offensive and derogatory. Besides, the terms do not even describe the same thing. The term midget was used to describe persons of small size but with regular proportions when compared to average people. That term has since been struck off the polite language list, regardless of whether one is referring to dwarfism or just small size in people. It is also not considered appropriate to call them vertically challenged. It has become more acceptable to refer to people with dwarfism as little people, or describe them as having short stature. Dwarf is usually used in medical terms.

Although this piece was primarily targeted at media people, it is nonetheless relevant to everyday language we use in society. The book of James 3 in the bible has verses that say, “So the tongue is a small organ and can speak big things. Think how great a forest ever so small a spark sets on fire. The tongue is also a fire, a world of wickedness…Every kind of animal, of bird, of reptile and sea creature is tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but no human being is able to tame the tongue, this restless evil so full of deadly poison. We praise the Lord and Father with it; with it we also curse men who have been made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth blessing and cursing proceed. This is not right, my brothers; it must not be this way”. Let it not be your tongue that is heard calling someone sidalwa, sichwala or kukhubateka. Speak love, speak healing, speak acceptance.

The dicy role of reporting on disabilities

One day while hanging out with my friends, one of them told a ridiculous joke. The other went, “Lol you’re such a retard!” I told her that wasn’t a word to be used lightly or to be poked fun at because it is an insulting way to refer to people with mental, physical, and emotional disabilities. It is especially used offensively on those with intellectual disabilities. The same goes for idiot, imbecile, and moron. They are not good words at all regardless of the context in which they are being used. When I called out my friend on that, she just said, “Lol you take life too seriously! It’s just a word!” Words aren’t just words. They are powerful; no wonder why we have the adage, “The pen is mightier than the sword.” The tongue is too. Words have the power to heal or rip people’s hearts to shreds thus need to be chosen carefully.

Language use if a big factor that works to sideline or include other people. When it insults people with disabilities, it is termed ableist language. Ableist language is any word that causes intentional or unintentional harm or insult to a person with a disability, either of the body or the mind. People usually mean no offence when they say the derogatory words. They just flow freely and some have just become part of everyday speech. Still that does not make it right to say them. The same way people feel about racism, xenophobia, and religious intolerance is the same way people with disabilities feel about ableist language; it is the same way everyone should feel about it.

The word disabled itself is loaded with negative connotations if used thoughtlessly.  Think of someone saying, “Please disable the Wi-Fi.” In this context it would mean deactivate it, put it out of action, make it not work. Once people hear dis-ability, then they are ready to dismiss, disregard, and even discard the individual with the disability. These undertones are what make the term people with disabilities more preferable to disabled people. The former is known as people-first language while the latter is identity-first language. Although most people prefer people-first language, there are some that prefer identity-first language.  Those that are pro-people-first language say it avoids defining a person in term of his or her disability while the other group considers their disabilities to be inseparable parts of who they are.

The discrepancy in how people with disabilities prefer to be described poses a challenge for journalists and other communications people in some instances. In other instances, however, journalists use downright unacceptable terms. In such cases it is usually due to pure ignorance of what’s appropriate, rather than a deliberate intention to offend. Some offensive terms were actually used, some of them still are, in legal and medical contexts, but are not supposed to be thrown around in the dissemination of news and in general conversation. The medical and legal terms ought to be changed too. I have seen news articles describing deaf people as deaf and dumb, where dumb is meant to mean non-verbal. Dumb or mute are not acceptable to the Deaf community anymore. Dumb, in particular, is also used casually to mean foolish. It is also not considered right to talk about “normal people” in reference to those that do not have disabilities. When you classify them as normal, then what would be the opposite? There would be a group that you are classifying as abnormal, and that is not appropriate. It is more suitable to refer to a specific disability an individual has instead of just generalizing and describing them as disabled or abnormal. As for those without disabilities, activists say the term typical is more welcome, and the opposite would be atypical. One might roll their eyes and say it’s just semantics, but it really is not. There is always a better way of saying something.

On the subject of mentioning disabilities in news articles, disability advocates emphasise that disabilities should only be mentioned if they are relevant to the story. For instance, sometime last year a man who had albinism was murdered and headlines were screaming with “Albino murdered”. While there are some unfortunate events when people with albinism are killed for their body parts around the continent, this particular man had no missing body parts and there was no proof that his albinism had anything to do with his murder. In the end, emphasis seems to be on the albinism rather than the fact that a man had been killed. There have also been instances when there are reports of people with disabilities committing crimes. Some reporters will be very keen to mention the disability, even though it has no bearing on the case.

Regarding cognitive disabilities, sometimes there are reports about children suffering from autism or Down syndrome. “Suffering” gives the impression that these children are in distress or are writhing in agony, which is hardly the case. If anyone is in distress where autism is concerned, it would be the parent not the child who has it. Others in the community will also refer to such children or individuals as sick, and that’s also a poor choice. Some are just tactless, but most are just at a loss of the appropriate thing to say. This is where the media should come in to inform the community on the right thing to say, not perpetuate discrimination. When my son’s autism rears its ugly head in public, I’ve seen people struggling for the right way to ask what’s up with him. I can see them tiptoe on eggshells asking any of the questions: “What’s wrong with him, does he have ‘issues’, is he different, does he have a condition?” Thankfully, I do not mind responding and explaining autism as many people don’t know about it until they meet someone who has it.