Navigating identity and care in disability and mental health in Southern Africa

A key feature of the experience of disability, including psychosocial disability or mental disorder, may be being confined or constrained. Professor Swartz is interested in which experiences of confinement or mobility configure in people’s lives, and their experiences of care.  These experiences of restriction or movement may be interrelated with social, economic, and political conditions, all of which vary greatly across contexts and may affect care arrangements and affordances.  These issues apply to relationships in the physical world but also come into play when we consider issues of digital access and justice.  Professor Swartz's talk will discuss three projects touching on these issues:

1. Ageing, migration and ICTs in sub-Saharan Africa
2. Access to specialised intellectual disability services in Cape Town
3. The impact of COVID-19 on people with disabilities in South Africa

I use my discussions with colleagues in these projects to raise broader questions about access and space in the experience of disability and care in low-income contexts.