ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the rationale and manner in which an academic leads disability activist practices in a Zimbabwean higher education landscape which is largely oblivious of the unintended outcomes of its interventions for people with disabilities. It discusses the ableism in deaf education in Zimbabwe before analysing emergent activism in higher education institutions. The discussion revolves around leadership initiatives which complement the collective activism of the Deaf community and disabled people’s organisations in general. The individualistic medical approach to disability is rooted in the work of sociologist Talcott Parsons and his discussion of sickness and sickness-related behaviour. The social model is based on the idea that disability is not a result of impairment but a direct consequence of society’s failure to take into account the differing needs of people with disabilities and remove barriers they encounter. Aversive audism practices that impact negatively on deaf learners start before school and emanate from an aversion towards people with disabilities in general.
