Today I find myself in the esteemed company of many established as well as up-and-coming law teachers and academics from all over South(ern) Africa.
The annual conference is being held at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University campus is Port Elizabeth. Papers are being presented on a huge range of issues, from criminal law to human rights law, competition law to family, commercial law to disability law.
Of course, I am most interested in the papers being presented on disability law. Considering that disability law research is in its infancy (compared to a number of other legal research areas), it is extremely heartening to see that no less than three papers relating to disability law are being presented at this conference.
The first of the papers deals with the rights of persons with disabilities to education; the second (which I will be presenting) is on the African approach to implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the last deals with persons with disabilities who are HIV positive.
Rather an eclectic bunch, no?
Rather than focus on my own presentation, I think the more interesting of the papers is the one relating to the right to education. Not being anything close to an expert on the right to education, I believe that there is a huge gap in the area of education for children with disabilities. Think back to the early days of South African basic education: 'special classes' (or 'hulpklasse') abound, in which traditional teaching material was either disregarded or, for lack of a better word, 'dumbed down' so that learners in these classes were able to pass their respective exams. In many cases, learners of different ages and languages were put together in the same class, having to cope with the same material. The problems created by this approach are clear. One can only hope that leaps and bounds have been made in the education of learners who are not comfortable with the traditional schooling methods and materials in order that these learners leave high school with the same standard of education as learners in the 'normal' classes.
On a more personal note, I am quite confident that my presentation will be received well. I am not suggesting anything particularly controversial, although there is always potential to ruffle feathers! I am also a little intimidated by being (as usual at these events) apparently the youngest presenter. It's quite sad being called 'ma'am' by some of the student assistants at this conference! Perhaps I should start walking around with photo identification to prove that I do not yet qualify as a 'ma'am'. Ah well, such are the problems of a (very) budding academic! Not too long from now, I shall probably wish that I still get called 'ma'am' instead of 'that old prof over there'.
Nose back on the grindstone - I have a presentation to get ready for!
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