Community Talks November 2026
Beyond School Access: Rethinking Inclusive Education for Learners with Autism in Tanzania
Online (zoom)
What does it really mean for a learner with autism to be included in education? Is access to a school enough, or does meaningful inclusion depend on what happens within and beyond the school gate?
Drawing on PhD research conducted through Ardhi University in Tanzania and Hasselt University (UHasselt) in Belgium, this Community Talk brings forward the perspectives of parents, teachers, and community members on inclusive education for learners with autism spectrum disorder. Through participatory research, including photovoice, participants used photographs and personal experiences to illustrate the conditions shaping learners' participation across home, school, and community settings.
The findings reveal an important tension: while parents, teachers, peers, and neighbors create valuable opportunities for participation, their efforts are often constrained by wider structural challenges, including poverty, inadequate school resources, transport difficulties, and disability-related stigma. As a result, inclusion can become fragile, depending heavily on individual commitment rather than sustained institutional and community support.
The Community talk invites reflection on what these experiences tell us about moving from educational access towards meaningful participation, belonging, and learning, and why inclusive education needs to be understood within the social and ecological realities in which learners and their families live.
Clemencia Shomari Mihambo is a PhD researcher in Educational Sciences at Hasselt University (UHasselt), Belgium, and Ardhi University, Tanzania. Her research is connected to the VLIR-UOS Institutional University Cooperation program with Ardhi University and contributes to broader discussions on inclusive and context-responsive education.
Her doctoral research focuses on inclusive education for learners with autism spectrum disorder in Tanzania, with particular attention to how families, teachers, schools, and communities understand and experience inclusion. Using participatory and qualitative approaches, including photovoice, her research examines the conditions that enable or constrain learners’ participation, belonging, learning, and development across home, school, and community contexts.