Inclusivity and the remote doctorate supervision experience of a student with disability in a South African university

Abstract

These are personal accounts blended with literature on higher education in South Africa that reveal my experiences as a patient and a disabled online doctoral student. In recovery, I encountered challenges in reading, walking, speaking, and swallowing. Using the narrative technique, this article highlights the academic challenges that I experienced as I transformed into a disabled online doctoral student. To demonstrate the strength of habitus as espoused, the faculty of education demanded an abeyance letter explaining the delay in my doctoral studies. The paper reveals delays in receiving feedback, lack of physical, and intellectual feedback from PhD colleagues and my experience of the burden of critical thinking about doctoral studies. The paper recommends that the Department of education along with higher education institutions should spell out what should be done when a higher education student(s) develops disability(ies)while enrolled and the extent to which they can be included in institutions of higher learning.