Exploring Experiences of University Students with Learning Disabilities : Shaping Student Engagement in South Africa

This book examines the experiences of students with learning disabilities in South African higher education, exploring the different factors that shape students’ university engagements.

Students’ experiences, gathered through semi-structured interviews, are analysed within the Capability Approach to assess the way social arrangements influence students with learning disabilities’ academic engagements. The book then discusses the ways universities can foster opportunities that contribute to students’ multi-dimensional achievements for their academic and general wellbeing. The book exposes inequalities in higher education that impact students with learning disabilities who often operate in inflexible educational systems, practices and standardised learning outcomes that do not take into account the unique ways by which students with learning disabilities process information. The book sheds light on the educational trajectories and conditions which students with learning disabilities operate in.