ABSTRACT
Many disabled children are not attending schools in South Africa, despite policies that promote inclusive education. Quite often, online news articles (re)visit this topic. Using a critical literacy approach, and informed by critical disability studies, this chapter analyses online news articles, showing that certain tropes are rehearsed. These are an emphasis on the large numbers of disabled children out of school, individual stories of educational neglect, and critiques of teachers, schools and the government. These tropes have the effect of casting the education of disabled children in South Africa as a problem, rather than a right. The problem is presented as so overwhelming that it is ultimately unsolvable. Disabled children and their families are portrayed as the pitiable victims of unfortunate circumstances with detailed stories that emphasize their ‘otherness.’ We argue that instead of promoting affirming disability awareness and advocacy, and locating the experiences of disabled children and young people within a context of systemic discrimination and oppression, the articles do little more than evoke shock and pity. We call for news articles to portray disability in more complex and nuanced way, which allows individual agency, without resorting to stereotypes, to challenge ableist views of disability as deficit.
