Regent Business School Breaks New Ground With Education Programme Designed For Deaf And Hard Of Hearing

Hosted at Regent Business School's learning centre in Durban, this initiative is the first in a series designed to prioritise accessibility, creativity and dignity in education, says the institution.

Far from a traditional exhibition, the event offers a sensory-rich space built to communicate through sight and touch alone. With two visually striking installations and an interactive clay-modelling activity, the experience is designed not just to accommodate but to fully engage DHH participants. It is a rethinking of how learning can happen when access is considered from the start, says Regent Business School. 

The institution says the first installation, Nature and the Cosmos, invited visitors into a cinematic experience of the natural world and deep space, using imagery to provoke connection without relying on sound. The second, Abstract Visual Rhythm, reimagined sound itself. It translated rhythm into moving visuals that pulse and shift in sync, creating a sensory impact through visual motion.

"Accessibility cannot be an afterthought," says Dr Rowen Govender, Regent Business School's Academic Head of the School of Healthcare Management. "We designed this centre to challenge what immersive learning means. This event reflects our belief that education should serve everyone, not just in theory but in practice. It is part of a larger commitment to rethink how we engage with communities and how we define inclusion."

Following the visual segments, participants transitioned into the iLead Lab, a space dedicated to tactile learning. Here, clay modelling provided an expressive outlet through touch. It offered time for personal reflection, artistic interpretation and peer interaction. This brought to life learning that invited presence, awareness and a sense of shared experience, says Regent Business School.

For many in the DHH community, the event marked a first: a cultural and educational environment not only accessible but actively built with their needs at its core, adds Regent Business School.

"I've been to events that were technically accessible, but this was different," says Yegeshne Naidu, a spokesperson for the KwaZulu-Natal Blind and Deaf Society. "This wasn't about adapting something for us. It was made for us, with the DHH community. The experience spoke through visuals and textures in a way that was intuitive and moving. It made members of the DHH community feel seen and heard in a space that usually doesn't."

The partnership with the KwaZulu-Natal Blind and Deaf Society is central to the programme's integrity. Its insight informed the design from concept through execution, ensuring that the event was relevant, respectful and resonant, adds the institution. 

The immersive learning centre itself is a recent addition to the Regent Business School campus. Equipped with projection systems, spatial design tools and interactive materials, it offers a flexible space where content can be reimagined to meet different learning styles and accessibility needs, says Regent Business School.

This initiative is not a one-off. Regent Business School says it plans to build on the momentum of this first event with a series of future programmes aimed at different communities, with inclusion, creativity and accessibility as core design principles.

"We are not interested in quick wins or surface-level efforts," Dr Govender says. "This is about reshaping what meaningful education looks like. We are here to listen, to collaborate and to create environments where everyone has a place, not just a seat."

Regent Business School concludes by inviting media, educators and community leaders to visit the centre and witness first-hand how access and imagination can work together to reshape what learning means.

For more information, visit www.regent.ac.za. You can also follow Regent Business School on Facebook, X or on Instagram.

*Image courtesy of contributor