Open Distance Learning (ODL) takes place within different environments that are influenced by the social, cultural and political fields in which a student lives. This is particularly significant in South Africa where distance learning has been identified as the main system that should provide access to higher education for most students in the country. Through ODL, disadvantaged students can have access to higher education. This study uses a socio-cultural framework to examine distance education students' accounts of their experiences of learning. It reveals aspects of the socio-cultural contexts that tend to be marginalised by ODL institutions.