From this study, several recommendations were made to help teachers include students with albinism in their classrooms. The researcher believes that the recommendations that emerged from this study will help reduce the dropout rate of students with albinism.
Purpose of the study
This can later affect the student's ability to reason, understand, anticipate and create during learning activities (Bardin & Lewis, 2008). This study will primarily address the quality of school life of students, while also examining their experiences and the ways in which they direct these experiences.
Rationale of the study
Several studies have been conducted on the condition of albinism in Zimbabwe and Malawi, but very few have been conducted in South Africa. Due to the lack of relevant data, the researcher found it appropriate to explore the experiences of LWAs in their schools and find out through their voices how LWAs navigate these experiences.
The objectives of the study
Also in the researcher's twelve years of teaching, there were three LWA in the researcher's primary school classroom, but it is sad that none of them finished high school. However, concerns about how LWA are best understood and treated in the school environment have not yet been sufficiently explored.
Research questions
Significance of the study
Conclusion and overview of the thesis
The next chapter will review relevant literature on albinism and examine the theoretical framework for data analysis. This chapter further explores the theoretical framework intended to assist the researcher with theoretical analyzes of data received from the participants of this study.
Purpose of literature review
This literature review will serve to unravel data on LWA in their school settings because albinism is a condition that can become a barrier to the learning and development of LWA.
A working definition of albinism
Types of albinism
Origins of albinism
If neither parent has albinism, but both carry the defective gene, there is a one in four chance that the child will be born with albinism (Nordqvist, 2014). Little (2011) states that albinism is found in 1 in 1,700 people, regardless of race or ethnicity.
Prevalence of albinism
We usually have two copies of these chromosomes and genes: one inherited from our father, the other inherited from our mother.
Diagnosis of albinism
Is albinism a disability?
The Human Rights Council Advisory Committee (2014) argues that people with albinism are treated as disabled in South Africa. In South Africa, people with disabilities, including people with albinism, have always been one of the most discriminated against groups.
The South African Constitution and the persons with albinism
However, according to the Human Rights Council Advisory Committee (2014, p. 4): 'the rights of persons with disabilities are distributed throughout the South African legal system. It is desirable that such a law should be prepared to contain a specific section related to albinism or there should be legislation aimed at persons with albinism.”
Discrimination against LWA
Discrimination on one or more of the grounds mentioned in subsection (3) is unfair unless the discrimination is found to be fair. In addition, Article 10 of the Constitution states that everyone has inherent dignity and the right to respect and protection of their dignity.
Myths about albinism
Myth: That a child born with albinism is conceived when a woman has intercourse while menstruating. People with albinism are just human like everyone else and possess no magical powers.
Attitudes to LWA
In their study, there appeared to be a lack of understanding by the teaching staff in the schools of the problems faced by LWA and a lack of recognition of the efforts they made in the school. They were also concerned to find that very few teachers in this school were aware of the problems facing LWA.
The rigid curriculum
Skin sensitivity
The school buildings structure
The LWA in the classroom
Homework increases the fatigue of the school day, so the quality of the students' work will always be lower (Carney et al., 2003). According to the researcher's experience with LWA, the relationship between teachers and students, especially in primary school, is really discriminatory, stigmatizing and inconsiderate.
Theoretical framework
Public stigma is the source of self-stigma as people with the stigmatized condition are aware of the attribution of negative feelings about their condition. Goffman's stigma theory portrays the disgust of the body as the cause of stigmatization by the normal.
Conclusion
Reviewed literature shows this to be true, but as they grow, they psychologically and socially come to terms with their beings and they do well. A young lady with albinism in a study by Wan (2003) happily publicly revealed her uniqueness and from the positive reactions and attention of the normals, she said that she enjoys being different from other people.
Introduction
A qualitative study
However, the researcher's voice is also noticed in the process of interpretation and meaning-making. It is important that the voices of the participants are not lost in interpretation and also that the researcher does not bias the study to mean what she wants to say (Henning, 2004).
Locating the study within the research paradigm
From this perspective, truth cannot be based in an objective reality, what is considered true is negotiated, and there can be multiple, valid claims to knowledge. The researcher in this study used semi-structured interviews and open-ended questions to produce data to allow an informative dialogue to jointly construct a meaningful reality. The technique used by the researcher in this study was a case study and the method used to generate data was interviews.
Case study
It would have been impossible for the researcher to have a clear understanding of the experiences of these LWA without considering the different contexts in which they are taught, which in this case are mainstream and special schools. Six participants were selected to participate in both semi-structured one-on-one interviews and focus group semi-structured discussion. The design will bring coherence to the data generation process to answer the questions in the study.
Selection of participants
Uthando Special School was selected for this study because it has the highest enrollment of LWA in Umlazi District. The school has an enrollment of 285 students with various disabilities and 15 of these students have albinism. Even by looking from a distance, the researcher could infer that teachers and students in this school have a good relationship. Sandelowski (1995, p.179) argues that a "common misconception about sampling in qualitative research is that numbers are irrelevant to ensuring the adequacy of a sampling strategy." The researcher in this qualitative study typically involved a small sample size of six LWA.
Data generation
To avoid this situation, the researcher presented a vignette in the form of a radio drama as a projective technique. The participants who hesitated to open up a discussion had a very easy time answering questions based on the characters in the radio drama. The protagonist of this radio drama is Madalo, who is a nine-year-old girl with albinism.
Data analysis
With his LOVE for all the children and experience with learners who have different learning difficulties, he helps his fellow teachers and Madalo's peers to understand challenges Madalo faces and their causes. This understanding leads Madalo to return to school and enjoy her school life with the support of the teachers and her peers.
Ethical considerations
Charity - the results of this study will help to understand the different experiences of LWA; and impropriety – the researcher sought to protect the welfare and rights of the participants;. Integrity - the researcher gave an accurate and truthful account of the findings in the study and did not use deception or dishonesty to persuade participants to participate in this study (Elmes, Kantowitz & Roediger, 1999). This was important as the LWA differed from the researcher in some of these aspects (Swenson, 2007).
Conclusion
Introduction
Overview of research themes
Medical concerns
She said that during the summer she endures the sting of the sun's rays on her vulnerable skin. Medical care is seen to be non-comprehensive due to lack of awareness of the implications of sunburn and lack of provision of sunscreens. The threat of the sun to the health of people with albinism was seen to be depriving participants of social interactions with peers in play and other extramural activities in schools.
Teaching and learning
At that time I didn't understand I looked like her even when I looked in the mirror I didn't realize because I was a child. In the focus group discussion, some participants mentioned that not all the teachers are inconsiderate. Some participants in the study were enrolled in a special school and some in mainstream schools.
Discrimination and prejudice
Athandiwe: There are students who call me 'umlungu', I reported them and the teacher hit them. I quickly realized they were talking about me because I was the only one different from them. Their low self-esteem is thought to be related to the high visibility of their skin, a characteristic that deviates from the “normal characteristics in the category” of black students (Goffman, 1963, p. 4).
Navigation strategies
This navigational strategy may result from a stigmatized person's recognition that others are doing better than him (Crocker & Major, 1989). Miller and Kaiser (2001) argue that by not allowing emotions to rule, a stigmatized person is better able to focus on behaviors that will reduce the impact of prejudice on the specific situation. In one of the experiences that Siyamthanda shared with the researcher, he mentioned how they banded together as LWA against the "normals" in his school (Goffman, 1963, p. 74).
Conclusion
Introduction
Conclusions
Discrimination experienced by the participants in this study was seen as the source of their insecurities and lack of self-esteem. Teachers, who parents trusted to protect their children in their absence, were unfortunately seen as the focus of the harmful acts against the participants. It is believed that all participants have reached the transitional stage of physical and psychological development.
Limitations of the study
Moving away, finding a school where they felt like one of the others was accompanied by a lot of anxiety and stress, but their will to continue their education drove them to continue. However, the researcher is very concerned about the reliability of the strategies adopted by the participants attending the special school, as they were adopted in the controlled environment of the special school, where the risks of discrimination and prejudice are minimal. The few studies the researcher found about people with albinism in South Africa were based on their experiences in their communities, and there are very few recent studies.
Recommendations
More research studies need to be conducted to examine the school life of children with albinism to contribute to a better understanding of their joys and challenges. To provide them with information about various support groups for people with albinism and organizations such as the Albinism Society of South Africa (ASSA). A LWA in a study by Wan (2003) created a website with historical facts about people with albinism and answered questions from other children with albinism, many children benefit from this website.
Conclusion
Promoting the educational inclusion of children with albinism in sub-Saharan Africa: evidence from Malawi. Myths, discrimination and the call for special rights for persons with albinism in sub-Saharan Africa. I am interested in the learning experiences of students with albinism (LWA) in schools and how these students navigate those experiences.
INFORMED CONSENT LETTER
The purpose of the research is to learn about the experiences of LWAs in school and how they direct these experiences. 0827700509. This study was also ethically approved by the University of KwaZulu-Natal Social Science Research Ethics Committee.
DECLARATION
I understand that I am at liberty to withdraw from the project at any time, should I so desire
What is the most exciting thing you have done/happened to here at school? How would you have felt if you were the student with the skin condition in this radio drama? What do you think of the way both the teacher and the principal handled the situation?
