This study investigated how women with disabilities participate in higher
education and what enables them to succeed in their studies. The Social Model of
Disability (SMD) guided the study because it emphasises the removal of barriers
which continue to exclude and marginalize women with disabilities from social,
cultural and economic opportunities, including education. To support the model,
this study was conducted at the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) in Tanzania
to establish the challenges and opportunities that facilitated the women with
disabilities to enrol at the university. The study involved 22 women with
disabilities who managed to enrol at the UDSM, regardless of their types of
disabilities, degree programmes or backgrounds. The assumption behind this
study was that women with disabilities experience various challenges which
originate from their families, communities and institutions. The interest to focus on
women with disabilities studying at the UDSM was based on the understanding
that those women were among the few who managed to obtain a place at the
university despite these challenges. Thus, the study intended to establish the
potential motivation, factors and strategies which enabled them to succeed in
higher education. The study employed qualitative methodology using semistructured
interviews. Thematic analysis was also used to analyze the data.
The findings of the study showed that women with disabilities who
succeeded in getting a university placement were highly motivated to participate
in higher education and believed that education was important for their social
mobility and empowerment. The positive attitudes of some of their family and
community members highly motivated the women with disabilities to participate
in higher education. While there were motivation and positive attitudes from some
family members, the most disappointing issue for these women was their social
marginalization. At the university, these women’s main challenges were
inaccessible learning and physical environments. Attending more than one
informal group discussion was reported to be the key strategy of the majority of the
women for overcoming the challenges associated with the learning environment at
the university. The study concludes that accessibility and participation of women
with disabilities in education depend on social attitude change, an enabling and
encouraging university environment and family support.