Hetsie Swartz Veitch is a PhD candidate in Cultural Foundations of Education at Syracuse University, New York, where she earned a Certificate of Advanced Study in Disability Studies. As a recipient of a Fulbright Foreign Student Award, her doctoral research explores the intersectional lived experiences of students with disabilities in South African higher education. Her work critically examines the role of disability in post-apartheid transformation efforts, applying theoretical frameworks such as DisCrit (Disability/Critical Race Theory), Decolonizing Methodologies, and Critical Disability Studies.
Hetsie played a pivotal role in transitioning the Unit for Students with Disabilities at the University of the Free State into the Center for Universal Access and Disability Support (CUADS), where she served as division head from 2008 to 2015. She was a founding executive committee member of the Higher Education Disability Services Association (HEDSA) in South Africa in 2010 and acted as its treasurer from 2010 to 2015.
She holds a B Compt (now B Acc), a BSc in Physiotherapy, and an MBA from the University of the Free State. Her MBA thesis focused on Universal Design as a teaching and learning strategy for students with disabilities at the University of the Free State.