Abstract
ABSTRACT
Background
The global COVID‐19 pandemic brought various challenges for learners around the world. This paper reports on the perceptions of learners with Severe Intellectual Disabilities coming from low socioeconomic backgrounds in the South African context on the educational challenges that they experienced during the COVID‐19 pandemic.
Methods
Using the qualitative research methodology, data were collected from six learners (three females and three males) using semi‐structured individual interviews.
Results
Thematic data analysis yielded four themes, namely, loss of learning time, lack of interaction with others, lack of access to resources and lack of parental support.
Conclusion
Despite the pandemic affecting every learner negatively, in this study, among those with Severe Intellectual Disabilities who came from low socioeconomic backgrounds, the challenges faced by children with severe intellectual disabilities were unique and likely worsened by having Severe Intellectual Disabilities.
Summary
Despite a lot of research on educational challenges experienced by learners due to the COVID‐19 pandemic, there are limited studies covering experiences of those with Severe Intellectual Disabilities from low socioeconomic backgrounds in South Africa, especially with the learners as participants.
This study, which was carried out in South Africa, identified four challenges, namely, loss of learning time, lack of interaction with others, lack of access to resources and lack of parental support.
These findings may imply the need to plan for future pandemics with learners with Severe Intellectual Disabilities in mind, especially those from the population from which the sample was drawn.
The findings are significant, as learners with disabilities such as severe intellectual disabilities are usually neglected in research and in decision‐making, which further alienates them from resource allocation and service provisions.