The social needs and problems of higher education students with impairments

Abstract

There has been a huge influx of students with impairments into higher education, mainly as a result of legislation in this regard. In the light of this development, research was undertaken to determine the social needs and problems experienced by a group of higher education students with impairments in South Africa. A survey of 751 students at three universities showed that students with impairments comprised less than 0.5% of the student population. It appears from this survey that the general perception of students with impairments is that people without impairments have little or no understanding of them and/or their circumstances. The majority of students with impairments felt that they were not easily accepted by other students and that they themselves did not find it easy to make friends with other students.