Helping each other at UP: Navigating disability on campus

Joshua Jacobs and Franco Marais

It seems to be that time of year again. There will be many fresh faces on campus and, accompanying these faces, no shortage of high-strung ambitions and questions like “Where can I find the ClickUp building?” But there is no need to fear. The anxiety and uncertainty are as much a part of the traditional first- year experience as the 2-minute noodles and the continuous hangover that is O-Week. All this is to say that the one major help to anyone trying to come to grips with varsity life is the realisation that this is far from being an uncommon struggle. Perhaps most importantly, this extends even to students who first encounter student life with the added challenge of adjusting while living with a disability. Fortunately, there is no shortage of support for new students to rely on. What follows is a breakdown of where students with disabilities can find support on campus, as well as a bit of wisdom on the matter of disabilities for any students interested in supporting one another in the face of any disability-related challenges.

Where can support be found?

Luckily, help is never far away for any student living with a disability at UP. As well as the university’s very own Disability Unit, there is a committee known as BOLD (Beyond Our Limiting Disabilities), which aims to raise awareness about different disabilities and help students with disabilities register at the Disability Unit.

What is the purpose of the Disability Unit?

One of the primary institutional commitments held by the University of Pretoria is ensuring an integrated and inclusive learning experience for students with disabilities. The Disability Unit helps in fulfilling this commitment, as it creates an enabling environment for learning by providing support to students with disabilities. Students are also encouraged to visit the webpage of the Disability Unit regularly to stay informed about any updates or to visit the Disability Unit on campus at the Old Chemistry building.

What is BOLD?

BOLD is a committee of eleven executive members who are all current UP students and whose objectives are broken down into seven portfolios. “Each portfolio is specifically tailored towards providing general and specific information to people with disabilities,” a Bold representative told PDBY. “We provide campaigns to educate people about various disabilities, act as a liaison between the students and the university as well as its various departments and we plan on holding more fun events for the members of our committee this year, among many other things.” The repreesentative continued, “We also have a group chat on WhatsApp that allows students to contact us directly if they need urgent support. We also have anonymous forums where we ask students what support they need. Ultimately, we want to help students with disabilities have a well-rounded university experience and we try our best to do just that.”

What is the best way to support a fellow student who is living with a disability?

When asked this question, there seemed to be a striking degree of consensus in views between Juan Erwee (the technical officer and current acting Head of Department at the Disability Unit) and a representative from BOLD. The common feeling seems to be that reaching out in friendship instead of trying to solve a fellow student’s problems is always the best way to go. According to Erwee, it is best to “consider the person first”, since a student living with disability shares the same desire for community and support groups held by any one of their peers.Thus, helping a fellow student out in this context is actually far simpler than the common consensus would suggest, since what is most needed is empathy and, in the words of a BOLD representative, a “focus on getting to know the person as an individual”.

How can students help BOLD?

When asked what the most challenging of the seven major initiatives concerning BOLD is, a representative said that the most challenging aspect is the internalised stigma that people have with regard to people with disabilities. What does this mean? According to BOLD, this means is that any student can help BOLD in making campus life better by simply “understanding that a person is not their disability”. Which can, according to Erwee, be as simple as being “in tune with your fellow students as people and experiencing university life with them ”.

There is no lack of support for new students who are either living with disabilities themselves, or who want to offer support to their fellow students. As a final word of encouragement, BOLD would like to implore all students to follow them on social media and to remember that “they are not alone”.