Abstract
M.Ed.
Owing to South Africa’s changing socio-political climate post 1994, the educational environment has adapted its policies so as to mirror the nature of society, as reflected in the Constitution. Thus children with disabilities have been included into the mainstream education environment, through the introduction of policies such as The South African Schools Act of 1996 and the Education White Paper 6 of 2001. This paradigm shift within education has been further promoted through inclusion trends throughout the world, which are promoted by way of the Salamanca Statement and similar documents.
Inclusive education research has primarily focused on the perceptions of the child with a disability, as well as his or her parents and teachers. Relatively little has focused on the sibling, potentially the only family member to share both the home and school environment with the child with a disability. The purpose of this research is therefore to explore the experiences of the siblings who share the mainstream education environment with a brother or sister with a disability.
A qualitative research design was adopted so as to gain thick descriptions from the siblings of children with disabilities. Siblings were asked to take photographs which illustrated activities performed by them and the child with a disability. These were to act as a catalyst for conversation and form the basis of semi-structured interviews. In addition to these primary sources of data, a researcher journal also provided secondary data. Together all sources of data were combined in the constant comparative method of analysis. Through analysis, the data revealed the following: These siblings see the child with a disability for the person they are and not for the disability they experience, however they do not have the same level of acceptance for all children with disabilities. They believe that their sibling with a disability is accepted by peers within the mainstream school environment because of their positive attitude and determined effort made in integrating themselves whole-heartedly within the school environment. Despite this positive experience of their sibling with a disability, like other siblings, they have separate lives at school and thus the child with a disability is dependent upon alternative support provision. Lastly, many of the siblings lacked in-depth information regarding their brother or sister’s disability and often responded to questions with, “I don’t know.”