This article investigates how lesbian students experience microaggressions in bathrooms at a South African university. We conveniently and purposively used in-depth interviews with 17 lesbian students largely from one of the faculties. Our findings show that notions of microaggression in university bathrooms were not always subtle but pervaded with strong intentions of cissexism and heteronormative messages that had serious implications for the wellbeing of same-sex sexual identity students. Although the university’s intent to introduce gender-neutral bathrooms was to address concerns of safety and forceful sexing of the body through the architecture of the traditional gender-binaried bathrooms, lack of engagement with the diverse student populations created confusion and anxiety. In light of the severity of hate crimes towards lesbians in South Africa, participants were of the view that the newly queered bathrooms made them more vulnerable to violence and ostracism. Implications are that the protection and inclusion of people with same-sex sexual identities in university bathroom spaces remain compromised. Tokenistic attempts at gender transformation in institutions of higher learning are indicative of the need for more focused and thought-through approaches with various stakeholders to consider the voices and needs of those directly affected.

Disability is associated with negativity, discrimination, shame, and stigma in townships, which impacts how parents interpret it when their child has a disability. Parents who have recently learned of their children’s intellectual disability often experience psychological and emotional trauma due to uncertainty and lack of knowledge and understanding of intellectual disabilities, including a lack of formalized and policy-supported transition programs in South Africa. Guided by Barbara Mowder’s Parent Development Theory, this study aimed to explore parents’ understanding of their role in transitioning learners with intellectual disabilities from mainstream to special schools. Using a qualitative case study, semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight purposively sampled participants from one chosen mainstream primary school in Soweto, Gauteng Province, South Africa. The results of the current study confirmed that the meanings participants attribute to their parent role characteristics during the transitioning of their children with intellectual disabilities are influenced by the connection between the Parent Development Theory’s parent role perceptions and the participants’ individual factors, including their educational background levels, which made a major contribution to how these parents perceived their parental role and their understanding of intellectual disabilities. The results highlight that owing to parents’ educational levels and cultural aspects, identifying learners with intellectual disabilities can be particularly challenging, with overwhelming, mixed emotions. The provision of psychosocial services in mainstream schools, as well as teacher training in skills to address the overwhelming parental support needs, will benefit parents and their intellectually disabled children by facilitating therapy and counseling during the transition process to overcome psychological challenges.

In 2010, the Kingdom of Eswatini granted learners with mild to moderate forms of autism the right to access education in neighborhood schools. However, the Eswatini Annual Education Census report of 2019 did not make specific mention of these learners’ current state of affairs. This qualitative, phenomenological study explored strategies for optimizing parental involvement in the education of learners with autism in Eswatini mainstream primary schools. The data were extracted through interviews and document analysis from fifteen purposively sampled parents and teachers selected from four mainstream primary schools in Eswatini. The data were analyzed thematically. Ethical considerations upheld during this investigation were informed consent, voluntary participation, anonymity, and confidentiality of information that participants divulged. One major finding of this study demonstrates that the deployment of highly autism-qualified teachers is crucial for laying a concrete foundation for parents to use in helping the learners in their studies. Thus, to accrue the involvement of parents in education, the Deputy Prime Minister’s office should state guidelines and craft monitoring tools to ensure that schools embrace and support the involvement of parents.