ABOUT DISABILITY RESOURCE CENTRE

Sport and Recreation  

The DSS 5 Aside Soccer Team qualified to participate in the African Nations Championship Football B1 which was to be held from 15 – 26 November 2019 in Abidjan – Cote Divoire.  The team was to represent Zimbabwe at the Tokyo 2020 if they had qualified in Cote Divoire.  Both the Abidjan and the Tokyo Paralympics were postponed to dates to be advised because of COVID-19 epidemic.  

Coaching session for 5 aside blind soccer Leaving noone behind in Sport

Various sporting activities are offered to students with various disabilities, included are sporting disciplines like 5 a-side soccer, sitting volleyball, wheelchair basketball, wheelchair tennis, chess and athletics. The Sports and Wellness unit remains open for the introduction of more sport codes for students with disabilities to ensure their wider participation in sport and recreational activities.

Figure 1.DSS students and staff in their sports attire in Masvingo for 2019 ZUSA Paralympic Games

DSS AND EDUCATION 5.0

To keep pace with the national vision as spelt out in Education 5.0, the Disability Support Services Unit plans to diversify and widen its operations in order to be self-sufficient in meeting the increasing needs of students with disability.  As a leading University in the country, UZ must remain the institution of excellence that provides education that changes lives of the nation for the better.  DSS plans to embrace the “Innovation” pillar of Education 5.0 and contribute to the university’s vision by creating an Assessment Centre which will include:

• An Audiological Laboratory
• Visual Assessment
• Braille Printing Press
• Sensory Stimulating Facility
• Wheelchair Assembly
• Hearing and visual testing using local materials including sonic aids and a Music Recording Studio.

Most students with disabilities are very good musicians. To achieve this, DSS will liaise and collaborate with the Faculties of Science and Engineering. Such a project will greatly generate funds for UZ, create new jobs, and support more students with disabilities nationwide.

UP-COMING EVENTS

Most of the planned events have not been fulfilled due to COVID – 19.  However, such events have been postponed pending the normalisation of the health situation.  The following schedule waits to be rolled out: 

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

1. What services does DSS offer?
2. Disability Support Services Unit is there to support students with disabilities in their academic and social life at UZ. The following are some of the services offered to students with disabilities at UZ:

• Assisting in the registration process and accessing accommodation on campus.
• Assisting students with disabilities to find suitable students helpers for them during their life at UZ.
• Training new visually impaired students in mobility, orientation and navigation of the university environment.
• Offering inclusive support to all students with disabilities during their university lives.
• Raising disability awareness so that the university community has a clear understanding of disabilities to enable them to work with all students with disabilities.
• Providing curriculum support to students with disabilities.

1. Q. Which form of disability is catered for?
2. A. We cater for all disabilities across the board. There is no preferred disability nor do we give preferential treatment to any disability. Our policy is total non-discrimination.

1. Q. Are you in partnership with other organisations?
2. A. Society realises that disability is not a just personal problem to be solved by individuals affected and their immediate families. It is a social problem created and reinforced by social attitudes and prejudices whose solution requires resources, protections and constant interaction. So yes, we are in partnership with many public and private sector organisations, companies, institutions, individuals, friends of persons with disabilities, parents and guardians and families. It is through such partnership that we often get a lot of material and psychosocial support in our endeavour to adequately support students with disabilities.

              2018 DSS students with one of our corporate partners, “Endless Possibilities”

1. Q. What are the main challenges faced in this Department?
2. A. Education for persons with disabilities is very expensive in terms of gadgets and equipment required for them to succeed academically. Technology in assistive devices is advancing and for us to keep pace, we need support so that learning by our clients keeps pace with that of their differently-abled counterparts pursuing the same careers and studies.
3. Q. Do you make a follow up of students who will have completed if they are gainfully employed?
4. A. Through our regular tracer studies, we try to keep in touch with as many of our graduates as possible. Our Alumni programme also operates on a non-discriminatory basis to ensure that all students, irrespective of status, are part of the alumni. We are considering to propose the creation of a permanent seat in our Alumni so that issues of graduates with disabilities are always on our radar.
5. Q. What Programmes do your students enrol in?
6. A. We have managed to dispel the myth that students with disabilities are only able to take some programmes and not others so students with disabilities are found across all Faculties.

Through our orientation and career guidance system, we give guidance to ensure that disability is not a barrier to success in any program our students choose to pursue.

1. Which category of disability has more students?
2. A. Currently it is visual impairment. Out of the 187 students with disabilities we have, 73 are visually impaired followed by physically challenged who are 69 then 32 with albinism, hearing impaired 12 and epileptic 1.