The ‘shadow pandemic’ in online learning: perspectives of visually impaired students from Ghana and Egypt

Abstract

The emergence of COVID-19 accelerated the integration of digital technologies in teaching and learning to expand access to education. However, one cannot ascertain if visually impaired students learning online benefited from this innovation, a phenomenon this netnographic study explored. Social media tools were used to interview 12 visually impaired students from a Ghanaian and an Egyptian higher education institution. Analysis of the data revealed multiple ‘shadows’ in the students’ experiences. The findings further revealed that the studied institutions prioritized physical access and they also used lopsided crippling discourse. Lastly, the support systems that enhanced the studies of visually impaired students came to light. The study findings have consequences for this cohort of students, so this study recommends agile and futuristic policies to reverse the trend. Finally, it is recommended that the capabilities of faculty and staff need to be enhanced to effectively accommodate visually impaired students in virtual spaces.

Points of Interest

• The study uses shadow pandemic, a concept mostly associated with violence against women and children during pandemics, to mirror the challenges of Ghanaian and Egyptian visually impaired students who learned online during the lockdown

• This study is among the first to adopt Shaheen’s Accessibility for Equity theory as a lens to explore the experiences of visually impaired students

• The elements of the accessibility for equity framework helped in framing the categories and themes that emerged from the analysis of the field data

• The findings of the study revealed that the challenges the study participants experienced significantly outweighed the support that was available to them during the difficult periods of their study.

Keywords:

• A4E framework
• covid-19
• netnography
• online learning
• shadow pandemic
• visually impaired students learning online

Acknowledgements

My sincere appreciation to the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for the postdoctoral fellowship award through the Building Capacity for Early Career Humanities Scholars in Africa (BECHS-Africa) which made this study possible. I am also indebted to Professors Samuel Adjei-Mensah and Kwame Offei (both of University of Ghana) and Professor Javed Maswood (of the American University in Cairo) for their kind consideration. Finally, to Professor Teklu A. Bekele for his mentorship, Mr Benedict Fosu Adjei for his support and the study participants for their time, patience and contributions.

Disclosure statement

There is no conflict of interest associated with this study.