University of Cape Town
This week we visited the University
of Cape Town (UCT) in the Western Cape Province of South
Africa. Cape Town is a bustling international city, bordered
on one side by the peaks of Table Mountain and on the other by
the Atlantic Ocean.
Our host was Professor Theresa Lorenzo, the Division Head and Program Convenor for the Disability Studies Doctoral Program at UCT. We had an opportunity to meet with faculty, visit UCT’s beautiful new Neuroscience Institute, attend individual meetings with masters and doctoral students and participate in a seminar for the Disability Studies program. I was very impressed with the UCT students, many of whom are individuals with disabilities themselves.
One especially impressive student
was a former local City Counselor, who was shot during his term
in office. He had a long recovery and now walks using
crutches. After this incident, he decided to pursue his Masters
degree in Disability Studies and focus on the needs of youth with
disabilities in his community.
We wrapped up our visit attending an evening lecture with the Vice Chancellor of University of Fort Hare, an eloquent leader who spoke of the struggle for intellectual freedom and burdens on higher education during the apartheid and post-apartheid eras.
