HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
KG Maluleke Memorial Disability Integration Organization is a brainchild of two chaps with disabilities. These two were institutionalized and attended primary education at a special school before proceeding to a mainstream school at secondary level. During that time there was no high school for learners with disabilities. It was a great challenge taking into consideration t
heir experiences and comfort in an institutionalized environment. This might have appeared cruel or unfortunate but instead, it was a blessing in disguise because they were able to socialize and integrate with their able-bodied peers. Being at mainstream school helped these chaps to adjust and adapt to an unprotected environment and interact with able-bodied people earlier than at tertiary level. As opposed to being at a special school, where they were assisted with every aspect of their lives, at mainstream school they started to do things for themselves. They had to start realizing and accepting the fact that they looked different from other scholars, but mentally capable to compete with anyone academically. Eventually, these chaps proceeded to a medical university, one qualified as a Medical doctor and the other as a Dietician. Their experiences in life made them to come to a conclusion that it was counterproductive for a learner with a disability to stay too long in special school. They found it unfortunate that these learners are now encouraged by the present dispensation to study at their own institutions up to Grade 12. This prolonged institutionalizing makes some learners with disabilities to develop fear and anxiety to proceed to tertiary institutions. Those that eventually got to tertiary institutions struggled to cope and to adjust to the new hostile, challenging and competitive environment. Before they could adjust, they would fail their semester academic examinations. Others become fearful to face mainstream society and subsequently resort to disability grants for living instead of education, to add value to their lives. . The unspoken language of institutionalizing a learner with a disability from Grade R to Grade 12 is that we can only assist him or her to gain this level of education and provide him or her with a disability grant as source of income. It is like we are saying that the educational ceiling for a learner with disability is grade 12. This seems to be the implication because there is no special tertiary institution. No one is saying that we do not need special institutions of education for learners with certain disabilities. It is a fact that there are those learners whose disabilities are such that they cannot lead independent lives. At the same time, is it correct to institutionalize a learner purely because he or she has a deformed leg, missing finger or walks differently? Institutionalization may deny young people with disabilities opportunities and platforms to unleash their potential.
