In Tanzania, according to Morley et al. (2010), disability is often viewed and discussed within the two traditional models, namely the medical and the social model. However, Shakespeare (2014) mentions at least five models of disability, listing them as the medical, social, social-relational, cultural and interaction models. The medical and social models are widely debated (Morris, 1991; Crow, 1992; French, 1993; Thomas, 2004, 2007; Barnes, 2007; Oliver, 2009; Shakespeare, 2006, 2013, 2014). The medical model relates disability to an individual’s impairment thus placing emphasis on individual inabilities, welfare and medical support. This model tends to see the challenges often experienced by disabled people as a tragedy that derives from the person’s impairment. Critiques of this model suggest a social model (Oliver, 1983, 1990, 1996, 2009; Hahn, 1986; Barnes, 1996). They see the medical model as widely creating a negative view of disability and strengthening dependency as they suggest that it focuses more on bodily deviance, disorder and deficiency, reducing disability to an outcome of only individual impairment and providing us with only one dimension of analysis. Priestly (1978) sees the unit of analysis in the medical model as beliefs and identity.
The social model places emphasis on societal constraints thus shifting the blame for disability from people with disability to an unfair and oppressive society. In this context,
disability is seen as stemming from social structures that have failed to adjust to the needs and aspirations of individuals (Hahn, 1986). Social structural constraints are thus taken as reasons for the disablement of disabled people. In other words, researchers adopting the social model see disabled people as being disabled by environmental, cultural and economic structures that exist in societies. While scholars like Oliver (2004) see the social model as one which can adequately explain the experiences of disabled people, Shakespeare (2014) argues that it cannot adequately explain the complex interplay of individual and structural factors, given that it focuses more on structures and less on individual impairment. It thus reduces disability to an outcome of only social constraints and provides us with only one dimension of analysis, just like the medical model. For Shakespeare (2014), impairments are also important in analysing disability because these may be permanent, occasional, progressive or fatal. This suggests that only looking at societal or environmental factors may lead me to overlook the low vision impairment which can sometimes affect students with albinism’s ability to interact with HE opportunities.
Another model of disability is social-relational, as suggested by Thomas (1999; 2007; 2012). The social-relational model focuses on constraints that affect peoples’ doing and being (Thomas, 1999; 2007; 2012). Watson (2012) and Shakespeare (2014) criticise this model for its limitation when addressing issues of peoples’ discrimination. They see the model as having limited means of distinguishing between effects that emerge from impairment and those which emerge from structural or cultural constraints. The cultural model is often linked with an American scholar, McRuer (2006), and an Australian scholar, Campbell (2009). It places more emphasis on social discourse and cultural roles in the understanding of disability.
The interaction model was suggested by Shakespeare (2014) and some disability theorists in the Nordic countries. This model integrates the medical and social model, suggesting that disability is an interaction between individual and structural factors (Shakespeare, 2014). This model suggests that both the impairment (internal) and socio-cultural (external) factors of an individual are a cause of disability and neither of them can be reduced. My understanding of this perspective is in line with Archer’s (1988, 1995, 2000) notion of structure and agency, which is explained in detail in Chapter Six. Archer (1988; 1995; 2000) uses her theory of morphogenesis to explain the interrelationship of structure and agency. She believes that structure and agency influence each other. In Chapter Six I
explain her theory of morphogenesis to analyse the experiences of the 14 participants with albinism in interacting with HE opportunities. The findings from these analyses indicate an interaction between visual impairment and the structural and cultural conditions in the life experiences of the 14 students with albinism.
In understanding the experiences of the 14 students with the condition, neither their poor vision nor their social, structural and cultural constraints and enablement were reducible, as they all influenced each other. In this context, I drew upon the interaction model of disability to capture both the external and internal conditions, including the cultural factors that surround the life experiences of students with albinism. While Tanzanian policies recognise that social and cultural factors influence how people perceive disability, HE, as mentioned above, often treats disability as an individual issue (Mwaipopo et al., 2011). Disabled students are therefore often not included in the widening of participation strategies or policies. Although in practice disability is treated as an individual issue in Tanzania and some other SSA countries, Chataika (2007) points out that the medical and social models often dominate disability research in this part of the world. However, it has become clear in recent years that the interaction model has been applied to researching disability in SSA. For example, Chataika (2010), a researcher from Zimbabwe, has successfully used Shakespeare’s (2006) interaction model to capture the life experiences of disabled students in HE in Zimbabwe. In analysing her data, Chataika (2010) felt it important to investigate the interaction between various personal and structural factors affecting her participants. Having looked at the various models of disability, I now proceed to discuss the barriers that impede the participation of disabled students including students with albinism in HE.