Autism, Volume 1

This book was written at a time when there is a paradigm shift in the African continent where dependence on Western epistemologies and ontologies are giving way to African Indigenous knowledge systems.

Africa has been an importer of knowledge from the West since time immemorial, and this book contributes to the body of knowledge on Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) from the African perspective. As a result, decoloniality and inclusive education have gained traction within the academic discourse, with University of South Africa hosting an annual decoloniality conference and a summer school to stimulate academic discussions and debates, focusing on African Indigenous knowledge systems and theoretical lenses as opposed to the Western epistemologies. Among others, Ubuntu seems to be the dominant theoretical framework underpinning some of the research studies reported in this book, and chapters cover a wide range of topics from religion and inclusive education to law, among others.

The history of the African continent includes colonialism, marginalisation, and discrimination, where children with ASD and other disabilities were relegated to special schools – these social injustices cannot be perpetuated in post-colonial Africa characterised by democratic practices. However, inclusive education legislation set the tone for academic discourse around ASD, and academics are increasingly advocating for inclusivity in educational settings. With most teachers not trained to teach in inclusive classrooms, there is a need to capacitate teachers through in-service training. More importantly, the teaching practice training programmes should be infused with a curriculum that caters for inclusive education so that teachers will graduate having skills to teach in an inclusive classroom among others.