Queer theory is a critical, discursive praxis of examining truths about society and culture to uncover what has been taken for granted (Kirsch, 2000). Hunt and Holmes (2015, p. 156), for example, use the term ‘queer’ as a verb and a ‘deconstructive practice focused on challenging normative knowledges, identities, behaviors, and spaces thereby unsettling power relations and taken-for-granted assumptions’. Alsop et al. (2002, p. 96) assert that the aim for queer theorists is to revisit hegemonic concepts such as gender and sexuality, and unearth their ‘naturalness and inevitability’, while underscoring the ability to ‘celebrate transgressions from them’. Sexuality education remains a highly controversial, contested, and sometimes silenced issue, particularly among CwDs (De Reus et al., 2015; Louw, 2017; Rohleder et al., 2012). As mentioned above, particularly in the African context where disability and sexuality are almost avoided in family discussions (Chappell, 2016), carers must be brave to confront value-laden discourses to not only validate but also create safer spaces for LVI to broaden their sexual identity. This requires them to become caregivers in loco parentis (in the place of parents). This requires us to queer the term of a parent and what it really takes to be defined as a parent in situations where learners are outside their private households. This queer act of who is and what it takes to become a parent is both a self-sacrificial act and heavy load for carers to partake as they often become blamed for their learners’ behaviour in the school premises (Ubisi, 2023). As the findings will show, carers partake on this decolonial project in this in loco parentis role with even limited knowledge about sexuality or policy guidance. Within this context in mind, I concur with Hunt and Holmes’ (2015, p. 156) recommendation for queer theory when working in liberatory, transformative, and social justice spaces that, ‘Queerness is then less about a way of “being”, and more about “doing”, and offers the potential for radical social critique’.

Thirty-six hostel carers were identified and recruited from three South African SFB across three local provinces (see Table 1 for the participants’ characteristics). The rationale for choosing the specific schools was based on the three biggest provinces in the country with the most available SFB in them. These schools further draw learners from other provinces and therefore consist of a diversity and representativeness of LVI in the country from different backgrounds. These schools further draw carers also from different provinces themselves, bringing a wide sample of carers from different socio-cultural backgrounds. Carers aged from 22 to 47 years old. Carers had 2–14 years of experience in working with CwDs, while their level of education ranged from Grade 7 to Grade 10. None had any post-secondary education or tertiary training in special needs education.

The study employed an exploratory, qualitative, multiple case study design for data collection and analysis methods (Creswell & Creswell, 2018). Focus group discussions, with an unstructured interview guide, were used to generate data. The FGDs lasted from 1 h to 2 h with breaks in between. All in all, three FGDs were held in English and other African languages (isiZulu, SeSotho, isiXhosa by the principal investigator fluent in these languages) to avoid language barriers in the data collection process, given South Africa’s diverse linguistic landscape.

The recorded audios of the interviews were converted into written transcribed for accuracy (Babbie & Mouton, 2001). Data saturation occurred when no additional data, themes, or coding emerged, and the study demonstrated a robust capacity for replication (Babbie & Mouton, 2001). All data will be stored and destroyed after 3–5 years in a Google Drive file with access only to the principal investigator. Data were thematically analysed using the Braun and Clarke’s (2006) steps of thematic analysis: (1) immerse oneself with the data, (2) identify codes, (3) chart preliminary themes, (4) review themes in relation to the research aim, (5) name themes in consultation with the research aim, and lastly (6) write the report.

Ethical clearance to conduct this study was obtained from the University of South Africa, College of Education Ethics Review Committee (No. 2022/04/13/90352025/02/AM), together with its outlined procedures for obtaining informed written consent, voluntary participation with no negative consequences of declining, and confidentiality of participants’ identifying information. No financial remuneration was provided for participating in this study.

Carers reported a host of sexual behaviours by LVI from early childhood when they start sexually stimulating themselves in public places to their teenage years when they engage in risk-taking behaviours to have sex with each other within the residential premises.

Carers noticed that LVI start exploring their sexuality through touching themselves or each other in class:

Carers showed appropriate responses towards this these displays, acknowledging that LVI, much like their sighted peers, discover sexuality randomly or accidentally such as by touching themselves or others to build their sexual knowledge (Kagola & Notshulwana, 2022; Lucas & Fox, 2019; Malgosa et al., 2023). This finding enables us to queer the existing assumptions about sexuality and disability as it is falsely believed that people with disabilities are disinterested in sex or that all of them are asexual (De Reus et al., 2015; Louw, 2017; Rohleder et al., 2012). As such, this creates a need for more parental, teachers, and hostel carers’ involvement in CwDs’ growing psychosexual development (Chappell, 2016). As Ubisi (2020) advises, parents and other carers need to create secure, respectful, and teaching moments for LVI such as teaching them when and where to engage in self-stimulation.

As their sexual curiosity expands during puberty, in accordance with their growing urges, LVI engaged in high-risk sexual behaviours despite their close inspection and monitoring:

This is a significant finding that addresses the sexual agency of visually impaired youth that is often ignored and unaddressed in literature (Ubisi, 2023). That is, LVI also make decisions (whether informed or uninformed) about their growing bodies and sexual desires. These decisions could lead to unwanted or unplanned sexual experienced or debut (Kelly et al., 2002). As available literature corroborates, carers remain cognisant that parents blame them for their children’s early sexual debut (Ubisi, 2023). Yet for carers to be fully held liable in LVI’s sexual debut would mean that they task to always regulate and police their movement and association – a human right’s violation (Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, Chapter 2, Section 18 and 21). This finding further supports how we need to queer the way the sexuality of visually impaired people continues to be denied, silenced, and problematised by institutional settings. This view may in turn communicate to visually impaired youth that all experiences of sexuality are wrong and to be avoided (Chappell, 2016).

Carers, however, perform a frontline role as sex educators and parents within these spaces amid many constraints in their training, work conditions, and professional limits.

Most carers could not read and write with a highest education level of Grade 8. As previous studies suggest, carers cannot substitute the role of qualified and trained specialists in disability- and child-related sexual health such as social workers (Chappell, 2016; De Reus et al., 2015; Louw, 2017). As one carer noticed: ‘We can talk the whole day when it comes to children. The school really needs a social worker’. However, in this context, carers are forced to take on a parental role of ensuring that LVI have optimal access to proper sexual health. Within this context, professionalism becomes compromised as carers cannot turn a blind eye to the risky sexual behaviours young visually impaired youth engage in within hostels and the rest of the schooling premises. This requires a queering of the traditional role of a professional carer. If carers can be seen as parents with an even greater influence in the lives of LVI, carers can generate more support and recognition for their roles in the lives of LVI. This would require that carers become included in the larger school ecology, which makes decisions and advocacy for the sexual empowerment of LVI. For instance, Louw (2017) suggested that a school-based support team’s responses with intersectoral collaboration of parents, teaching, medical, welfare, and support staff such as carers would exert a greater involvement in the sexuality education programmes of LVI.

Carers remain in shortage but carry multiple roles, which are indispensable to the running of the entire school. Yet carers have suggested that having to provide sexuality education amid their day-to-day roles came at other demands namely:

Within such cases, sexuality is left to slip through the cracks, as carers cannot be in two places at once. This finding raises another aspect that should be queered, and that is the self-advocacy role of LVI in their own sexuality education (Ubisi, 2023). According to Chappell (2016), the CSE curriculum was not supposed to be led by teacher and school staff alone. But peer-led sexuality education remains a concerted effort by learners to commit to their own positive sexual choices. As such, carers could be seen as useful agents who could work alongside LVI to support the self- and peer-led CSE groups by LVI (Louw, 2017).

Carers do not have an equal standing in schools as teachers and school principals. For learners, this makes it easier to rebel against the authority of carers. As such, talking to LVI about delaying sexual debut is sometimes not enough as:

Carers have a choice of techniques to inculcate values, attitudes, and beliefs about healthy sexual choices including role play, drama and theatre, poetry, and the use of object relations (Chappell, 2016; De Reus et al., 2015; Louw, 2017). For instance, Ubisi (2023) has suggested the potential of queering the traditional sexuality education for CwDs by introducing the use of anatomically correct models, which blind learners can feel and touch (e.g. the difference about what is an erect versus a flaccid penis).

As sexuality often contains fluid and delicate scenarios, carers must meander through ethical dilemmas such as knowing how to handle disclosures of personal information such as when:

Disclosures for carers are often complicated because they involve information that parents may not want anyone else to find out (e.g. a LVI taking anti-retroviral medication because they were born with HIV). This finding enables us to queer what should be the ethical and professional limits of carers as they are often confronted and privy to very sensitive and private information of their learners. Moreover, the finding also requires us to consider the ethical and legal standards we should have for carers. Scholars such as Ubisi (2023) suggest that disclosure needs to be handled with the school’s residential psychologists, nurses, social workers, or the most available specialist to protect the security of the carer.

Carers perform roles imbued with emotional labour, with the potential of psychological decline in their ability to coping with demands over time. As for some of the women in their 40s and 50s, carers reflected on their caregiver support efficacy and mental health as:

This finding suggests that we queer the double burden of parent and care provider that is often imposed on carers. They have to fulfil these roles without much support from parents and the school governing bodies. Because of the lack of professional training, they are often ignored in self-care and continuous professional training. St Jerry (2021) recommends that carers who find themselves in formal structures such as schools or hostel manage their caregiving load and its impact on their physical, mental, and emotional well-being. St Jerry (2021) suggests carers care for each other through support groups, debriefing with senior colleagues, and relying on holistic self-care practices to prevent work-related burnout.