My name is Siyabulela Mkabile and I am a lecturer at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. For the past 15 years I have been working in the area of intellectual disability as both a clinical psychologist and a researcher. This experience has drawn my curiosity to develop and enhance my research skills. My curiosity within the South African context led me to explore mental health issues, cultural dynamics as well religious dynamics in understanding how intellectual disability is understood within culturally diverse low socio-economic environments. Using a decoloniality framework, I have explored explanatory models of intellectual disability with Traditional Healers, Spiritual Healers and primary caregivers.
This past November I had the privilege and pleasure of spending a whole month in the Education School, where I was hosted by Prof Melanie Nind and her team of experts in the field of intellectual disability research. From my very first day in the Education School, I felt very welcomed. I was introduced to various academics and the head of department, Prof Chris Brown who took time off from their busy schedules to meet me and welcome me to the university and to the department. I learnt a lot from their expertise and areas of work, and I could draw similarities and differences between the Global North and the Global South. In addition, I was able to learn from Prof Nind and the rest of the team every single day. I participated in team meetings and seminars to learn about different methodologies suitable for this kind of research. I was also interested on how these methodologies can be adapted for the context I come from. I also worked with Prof Nind on my research data on intellectual disability from South Africa and received invaluable mentorship and guidance from her on how to shape the journal articles that emanate from the work. I am grateful for the time I spent in the Education School, and I sincerely hope this will be my first of many visits and that I will continue to benefit from Prof Nind’s mentorship and collaboration on current and research studies.
