Afrocentric education is identified as a possible resolution to the many academic challenges experienced by people with disabilities. However, many people with disabilities do not have access to quality education due to various factors. The chapter discusses the benefits of Afrocentric practices in supporting people with disabilities in the schooling system. A curriculum that infuses Afrocentricity in the classroom will not only encourage people with disabilities, it will give a better understanding of their historical backgrounds, also improve their educational achievements, and raise their self-esteem. The chapter focuses on the people with disabilities; human rights; Afrocentric practices; principles foregrounding an Afrocentric learning environment; the educational value of Afrocentric indigenous pedagogy; strategies of Afrocentric indigenous pedagogy; benefits of Afrocentric practices. The chapter further presents Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory.
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Many African countries have enacted and are adhering to Western-driven universalization of rights however, there is not much proof of quantifiable commitment to policy implementation (Mamboleo, 2009). There is a lack of implementation of legislation and policy frameworks. There is discrimination against people with disabilities in many ways and non-existent of enforcement mechanisms. There is no corresponding provision of learning materials for instance despite the law providing for equal access to education for people with disabilities. South Africa has one of the most advanced social programmes in disability in Southern Africa (Haang’andu, 2018). Its constitution forbids biased discrimination against people on the basis of disability or health status (The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996). There was a ministry committed to disability which was approved in 2014 (Kelly, 2016). A means-tested programme called the disability grant 3 provides South Africans who are qualified with income support in monthly grants (WHO, 2011, p. 70). A means-tested, non-contributory monthly subsidy of R1500 (US$100) is offered to qualified people with disabilities, basically those who are not able to work or to support themselves financially by other means (Kelly, 2016, Haang’andu, 2018).
Calls for relevantly suitable understandings of inclusive education have been made for a long time (Booth & Ainscow, 1998). This has been taken up by inclusive education researchers in Africa who put forth a defence for inclusivity being integral to conventional African methods of being. Phasha et al. (2017, p. 5) proposed that re-examining African tutoring requires going “back to our underlying foundations” and looking at “our chronicles and social conventions.” By doing this, researchers highlighted examples of the inclusion, involvement, and esteeming of individuals with disabilities (Kisanji, 1998; Mpofu, Kasayira, Mhaka, Chireshe, and Maunganidze, 2007). Mpofu et al. (2007, p. 71), for instance, said that in Zimbabwe, “from an indigenous‐traditionalist viewpoint, involvement in inclusive settings is expected for everyone including the people living with disabilities.” These writers additionally highlighted “inclusive community practices” being profoundly respected in the Ndebele language, and “inclusiveness at the core of humanness” in Shona culture (2007, p. 71). According to historian and educator, Dr. John Henrik Clarke, along with culture and identity, education should assist in restoring the concept of nationhood, manhood and womanhood for Africans, including people with disabilities. Embracing an Afrocentric worldview implies that in clarifying or characterizing our encounters, regardless of whether recorded or contemporary, the talk must be one that places people with disabilities at the middle, in this way moving them from the edges and enabling them by making them the subjects and not the objects of the learning experience (Reviere, 2001; Asante, 1991).