​SU's Rector and Vice-chancellor, Prof Wim de Villiers announced late last year that 2020 will be the university's Year for Persons with Disability. It will culminate in the sixth African Network for Evidence-to- Action in Disability (AfriNEAD) conference, a prestigious international network that will be hosted by SU from the 30 November to 3 December 2020. To honour this the Transformation Office and the Disability Unit, along with AfriNEAD, will publish monthly reflections or articles by persons with disabilities. Our first piece is written by Wentzel Barnard, an alumnus who studied at SU from 1987 until 1994, and who now works as a Sports Manager at Maties Sport...


February's heat, paired with the buzz of excite​​ment as first-years crisscross the streets of Stellenbosch, takes me back to when I first rolled* onto campus. Looking back, it is great to see how Stellenbosch University has evolved in terms of providing for the needs of persons with disabilities.

In my student days, I had to deal with a physical environment that did not cater for wheelchair users, with building designs dating back to the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Most buildings could only be accessed by means of steps outside, and also had stairs inside. As an introvert, I found this challenging. Luckily, though, some students did ask whether I needed assistance. I also recall Prof Piet du Plessis carrying me up the stairs to a first-floor classroom in the Schumann building in my honours year.

Central campus surfaces were neither level nor evenly paved, which was difficult for a wheelchair user, and often, the back entrances to buildings ironically provided the best wheelchair access. Today, improving access for those in wheelchairs and other disability groups is high on the priority list when building new or renovating existing buildings. In some instances, however, the access issue is more one of attitude. This came to a head at my graduation …

Narrowminded protocol nearly put a damper on my big day. The stairs leading up to the stage in the then DF Malan centre (now Coetzenburg centre) hall where graduates are capped are very narrow. When I asked whether the Registrar would be willing to come down and hand me my scroll at the bottom of the stairs, I was given the choice to either be carried up those narrow stairs or to receive my degree in absentia. I refused both options, which resulted in a standoff. After newspaper threats (thank you, Corne Rossouw) and with only 30 minutes to go before the graduation ceremony, it was finally decided that the Registrar would descend the stairs and give me my scroll. Everyone in attendance praised the University for its efforts to ensure that a student with a disability would remember his or her graduation for the right reasons. Today, this procedure forms part of accepted graduation protocol.

Efforts to promote, and sometimes fight for, disability access to campus facilities and services have grown from a small group of individuals, namely Annette Barnard, Corne Rossouw, Gretha Jacobs and Messrs Van Tonder and Maas, into an entire office. Led by Dr Marcia Lyner-Cleophas, the Disability Unit addresses the academic needs of students with disabilities. The student organisation Dis-Maties, in turn, is responsible for the social side of student life, while Maties ParaSport manages sporting activities for the differently-abled from club to Paralympic level.


*I am a wheelchair user with quadriplegia (or tetraplegia), meaning all four my limbs are mobility-impaired. I have no use of my legs, and limited upper-body strength.