Being differently abled: Disability through the lens of hierarchy of binaries and Bitso-lebe-ke Seromo

Leshota, Paul L.; Sefotho, Maximus Monaheng

doi:10.4102/ajod.v9i0.643

Cited by 10 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 23 publications

(15 reference statements)

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“…While the word sehole , is the anchor concept in the proverb, current debates encourage adoption of a less negatively viewed concept “sekooa”. This term is disputed by Leshota and Sefotho (2020 , p. 5), in that it is connotatively negative, paralysing and promoting dependency among people with disabilities. Leshota and Sefotho prose adoption of the concept “differently abled” (p. 5) as an alternative to disabled.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In Sesotho botho or ubuntu represents the highest order of respect for the human being, regardless of whether they are disabled or not ( Letseka, 2012 , p. 48). It is in this sense that Leshota and Sefotho (2020) embrace the phrase, differently abled, not disabled in order to point out that all human beings have botho/ubuntu that gives them dignity and therefore are essentially respectable.…”

Section: Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Basotho ontology of disability: An afrocentric onto-epistemology

Sefotho

2021

Heliyon

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This theoretical article offers a diachronic analysis that is a rebuttal of ontological hegemony of disability as negative. The article is premised on the Ubuntu paradigm from which African wisdom is mostly anchored in idioms and proverbs. This article emerges as a reflection on a Sesotho proverb: Sehole ho ‘Ma-sona ha se lahloe (A child with a disability is never abandoned by the mother). The aim of this article is to demonstrate that Basotho ontology of disability portrays an ubuntu cultural acceptance of people with disabilities as equally human as all human beings. A purposive focus group sample of ten parents of youth with intellectual disability discussed the proverb and shared their experiences of raising a child with disability; and, what the proverb: Sehole ho ‘Ma-sona ha se lahloe mean to them? The qualitative data from the focus group was used to support the theoretical adaptation of Basotho ontology in revising the current understanding of disability. The themes reported in this article are: experiences of raising a child with intellectual disability and a child's love begins with a parent.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

Basotho ontology of disability: An afrocentric onto-epistemology

Sefotho

2021

Heliyon

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“…Sefotho (2021) further shows an example of using this proverb from the Basotho ontology in a saying: "Sehole ho 'Ma-sona ha se lahloe." While Leshota and Sefotho (2020) note elsewhere that "Sehole" is a derogatory negative term, Sefotho also argue that the proverb itself communicates a sense of protection toward the child and is used to describe "Basotho parents of children with disabilities as having great love for them" (Sefotho, 2021, p. 2). He concludes that it signifies a way in which Basotho positively affirm persons with disabilities within their communities.…”

Section: The Status Quo Of Knowing Disability In African Societiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Within disability studies, much has been documented about the complexity of disability, diversity of contexts and cultures and how this shapes conceptualizations of and approaches to disability (Bezzina, 2018; Grech, 2011; Grech & Soldatic, 2016; Leshota & Sefotho, 2020; Meekosha & Soldatic, 2011; Sefotho, 2021). However, Western ways of thinking, knowing and being still dominate and are often used to understand African contexts with little to no attention paid to African indigenous conceptualizations (Bezzina, 2018; Parsloe, 2015).…”

Section: The Status Quo Of Knowing Disability In African Societiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

African Renaissance as a Premise for Reimagined Disability Studies in Africa

Ned

2022

Journal of Black Studies

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Disability studies globally is concerned, in various ways, with questions of systemic injustices and inequities that persons with disabilities are subjected to. Persons with disabilities are often positioned as the objects of research rather than equal thinkers and knowledge bearers in their own right. These issues are amplified in the context of African societies, where access is even more challenging than in wealthier countries, and many persons with disabilities are excluded from education altogether. This situation reinforces their epistemic vulnerability. As such, there is limited work on doing disability research from the frame of reference of those in these African societies. This article operates at the nexus of two scholarly traditions. The first of these is the field of disability studies, which is generally dominated by Global North thinking than ideas and experiences from the Global South, and which has addressed questions of knowledge and participation quite extensively, but most commonly in high-income countries. The second is the long-standing political and epistemological African Renaissance lens for understanding and rebelling against imperialism and neo-colonial advances in formerly colonized African societies. I integrate and engage these two scholarly traditions to contribute to charting possibilities of what critical disability studies might look like and mean, from the premise of an African Renaissance. Central to this discussion is building on African theorization while also challenging the dominating and hegemonic white-centric theorization that dominates the field and epistemology in general.

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“…"Disabled" people, thus, should be regarded as differently-abled persons to partake in the development process locally and globally (O'Neill, 2011). Although still somewhat controversial, the term differently-abled is now extensively used under the banner of politically correct language (Smith, 2008;O'Neill, 2011;Mitra, Shukla & Sen, 2014;Chhabra, 2016;Gan et al, 2016;Ayachit, & Thakur, 2017;Barclay, 2017;Muster, 2017;Chandrakanth & Reddy, 2019;Jayathilaka, 2020;Leshota, & Sefotho, 2020).…”

Section: Hephapreneurship Inclusive Sociocultural Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

Challenging vision in visual arts in the South African sociocultural context

Steyn

Sefotho

2021

pie

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This conceptual article is anchored on critical phenomenology to challenge the monopolisation of visual arts by the sense of vision, thus depriving visually impaired people of aesthetic value beyond ordinary cognitive faculties. In this study, we discuss the forms of painting, drawing and sculpting defined as Visual Arts referring to appreciation only by vision; thus, excluding the visually impaired as unable to appreciate or create by sight. This exclusiveness has dominated and directed art aesthetics and ethics, allowing aesthetic criteria research projects and educational curricula to be established and, conventionally, maintain their static existence unchallenged. Furthermore, vision exclusiveness limits creative thinking and artistic inspiration. This article demonstrates the need and importance of broadening students' artistic conceptualisation of inclusiveness in Visual Arts by exploring three fields of humanities education, i.e., academic, educational and sociocultural. The article challenges established stereotypes by introducing innovative approaches and opening alternative channels of creative and critical thinking in higher art education. From a sociocultural viewpoint in the South African context, the analysis questions the validity of certain firmly rooted stereotypical concepts about art values and standards by encountering the visually unimpeded and impaired. While the research broadens students' artistic conceptualisation of inclusiveness in Visual Arts, it simultaneously promotes the concept of hephapreneurship (hepha+preneurship), a neologism inspired by the Greek god, Hephaestus, protector of arts and crafts, himself handicapped. The term does not draw attention to the inabilities of persons with visual impairment, but their creative abilities through encouragement and motivation. By direct and open exposure to the problem, the research promotes the importance of arts education as a challenging platform for interaction between two, by definition, opposed realities.

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Being differently abled: Disability through the lens of hierarchy of binaries and Bitso-lebe-ke Seromo

Cited by 10 publications

References 23 publications

Basotho ontology of disability: An afrocentric onto-epistemology

Basotho ontology of disability: An afrocentric onto-epistemology

African Renaissance as a Premise for Reimagined Disability Studies in Africa

Challenging vision in visual arts in the South African sociocultural context

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