Each year we have students with some disabilities. We have students using crutches, with leg amputated for various reasons; and students using wheel chairs. Classes with these students are purposely put on the ground floor. In the hostels, they are also placed in rooms on the ground floor. Their friends will make it a point to help them, so they manage quite well with the support of family and peers. Being quite a new college, the design is meant to facilitate disabled students.

Each year we have students with some disabilities. We have students using crutches, with leg amputated for various reasons; and students using wheel chairs. Classes with these students are purposely put on the ground floor. In the hostels, they are also placed in rooms on the ground floor. Their friends will make it a point to help them, so they manage quite well with the support of family and peers. Being quite a new college, the design is meant to facilitate disabled students.

One of the main requirements is that all the buildings are accessible to disabled persons. Also most of the access points are provided with ramps for easy access. Lifts or elevators are provided in all buildings. I do get disabled persons in my class. All of them with whom I came across are motion impaired because of some accident. They are wheel chair bound. One thing I noticed is that they are very proud of themselves and expect to be treated as normal students.

Also other people with some mental problems we provide additional coaching in the class as well as provide them extra time during the tests and assignments as required. We normally include a statement on our syllabus sheet for the purpose.

Special needs: The Americans with disability Act of 1990 provides protection from illegal discrimination for qualified individuals with disabilities. Students requesting instructional accommodations due to disabilities must arrange for such accommodation through the Office of Disability Services. The ODS is located at 103 Student Services Center, and the phone number is (319) 273 2677 (http://www.uni.edu/resources/disability).

On the Emotional Support front; which is normally required for First-time students to Residential Learning and mostly away from their native town/ even country...

This is to be facilitated on the following stages...

EARLY - WITHIN FIRST FEW MONTHS - MID SUPPORT - CARE EXTENDED

When planning this support service the planner should take all EGO stages into play (CHILD - ADULT - PARENT)..

The students Physical needs may be energetic with respect top their younger age; but they will be more intelligent and smart while handling situations for others... Problem is that "WHEN IT COMES TO THEM" they would err.. hence counseling (not in its exact form, but) casual relationship building would reinforce in a long way...

All students with disabilitis are receiving support from faculty staff, and they are purposely put in classes in the ground floor. In addition to that they have special parking lots adjacent to the buildings.

Throughout US parking for disabled persons is reserved close to the entrance of building. Also the parking slot is wider and bigger than other parking lots.

Dear All, thank you beautifully for interesting comments, I'll respond to them in the evening (my time), because of urgent duties.

In Brazil, the entire field of dealing with people with special abilities has received increased attention recently. It is worth noting that much remains to be done, not only in Universities but also in government buildings, and in other that deal with the general public.

In addition to what Dr. Judeh mentioned staff normally help student to go from one building to the other even though when possible classes are scheduled in the same building. Furthermore, A national organization normally provide special equipment and staff to help like sign language translator, note takers,…

My institute is not funded by government, though it was set by a government company. The faculty has to earn all the money through different activities. So it is not bound to provide any reservation of seats for admitting the disabled students. Government bodies and universities have to provide for 3 per cent of total number of admissions seats to the people with disabilities. Seats are reserved for them under a special law.

So I have never seen any disabled student in my institute during the last ten years.

But there is a faculty member, who is always on wheel chair. He is also perhaps the most successful faculty in terms of research. For him special measures have been taken to ensure that he does not face any difficulty, like special doors in the toilets so that he is able to enter inside along with his wheel chair, providing slopes where thresholds obstruct the wheal chair, conduction of classes on the ground floor, etc. Other faculty members and staff are also very empathetic towards his needs.

Dear All, thank you again for contributions. I really appreciate your support. I'm aware this is critical to adjust buildings, and campus for full access. Ideas of preparing infrastructure, parking places for students is essential what emphasized Nageswara, Mahfuz. Miranda said about organization of classes on ground floor as Mahfuz,

Krishnan said about very important part of support as emotional, broadly meant.

Nasser said about the help offered by staff even for changing learning places. I wonder if teachers help or maybe some staff employed ?

Dear @Roberto, we have lot to do in Poland too, in the mental sphere of unconditional acceptance, yet.

@Debi developed interesting story about not having student with disabilities at all. Dear Debi, I think mabye you had some, with more subtle disabilities without physical disfunction, without wheelchairs. As I observe your communication style, If any student had potential difficulties, your way of being could be supportive, so the felt safe.

@Dear Kamal, thank very much you for photo. Oh yes, you care !

I think this is good idea with 10% fees as huge discount intended for accessibility.

Dear Kamal, a few days ago my sensitive seminar student Natalia, who is writing her thesis about leisure and free time of women students with physical disabilities (also with girls with amputations) at Copernicus University, said to me - I was so impressed, (after interview) - She (girl with no legs) is travelling around the world for weekends, has many friends and is so happy ! - I'm not doing even half of it ! She was touched after this and other interviews.

I think Natalia learned something valuable.

Dear Shafig, yes, this is also the key, to get comprehensive access to the sources as books, and online data bases for students with vision or hearing disabilities.

Dear Beata

Earning a place at a public university is a dream for many young Brazilians . Master the content required in the exam, however , can not be the main challenge for a student to join higher education institutions . According to reports from candidates with disabilities , difficulties begin before you even get to the sites of tests that often do not provide the necessary accessibility .

The campus has many problems for moving wheelchair . The sidewalks are bumpy , ramps are very steep and the bathrooms are not appropriate .

The word access must be understood not only the entry of the person 's education through a selection process but also the permanence of it after enrolling in the institution , which should guarantee the accessibility features for completion of the chosen course

The effective inclusion requires clarity about concrete situations of coexistence : clarity on the action itself , on the very concept about people with disabilities ; class to take a student with disabilities , about their own feelings , beliefs about the possibilities of a student with disabilities ( visual or auditory or cerebral palsy ) and consequent expectations and requirements about what it accomplishes . It is work that will constitute over time ,not built and terminates in a fixed duration and requires continuity for the student to feel contained in the school able to participate and contribute to the educational community which have a sense of belonging .

Dear Nelson, thank you for your image. I think you emphasized two important dimensions. First would be preparation of the infrastructure and second would be psychological context of inclusion. This mean developing interpersonal relationships in academic environments without biases, but with the knowledge at different faculties, about difficulties and strenghts of students with disabilities. We constantly work on it, in Poland, I suppose it takes time.

@Beata

As I have seen in US everything is made normal for the disabled people. They are treated like normal people and facilities are made available everywhere for them, both in government as well as private places. For example when I go to the evening walk, I see a disabled lady comes driving in her car with her kids. When the car is stopped the boy comes and opens the door. She moves from her driving seat to the wheel chair, and the car specially modified to have a system for her to come out through the door with her wheel chair. The kids play for some time after which she gets into her car with the wheel chair and drives home. It is amazing that she is just living like a normal person.

I agree Prof Kamal and friends, that we should do everything we can for them. One of my girls who was in a wheel chair, due to an injury in the spine, did very well. So we gave her a special award. She came to see the teachers each time she had some problem, and ended with a 4 flat grade in Sem 1.

One of our news readers also needs a wheelchair, and at the last announcement of the national Budget, she asked if there were anything for the disabled.

Dear @Kamal, thank you nicely for an image. Is this vernissage of art works exhibition by artist on wheelchair at your Hashemite University ? We at Copernicus University are using many modern or traditional spaces too, for organizing cyclic art exhibitions for persons with various disabilities. I'm aware, that our academic spaces are suitable for such exhibitions, and this is good step to understanding inclusion ideas in academic environment. Our university and faculty authorities are open and supportive for such initiatives too.

Dear @Nageswara, I lived in US for more than two years, preparing and collecting data for my Mastser's Thesis, about American disability system support for children and adults, and I agree. American approach is far advanced in accessibility, acceptance and ideas of complete inclusion and other issues. I know the interesting story of Ed Roberts - role model, first student with multiple disabilities in 1963 at Berkeley University. So you have in US long and good traditions in theoretical concepts as well as of implementation of inclusion for ex. We in Poland have made one important step ahead, after we got economic and mental independence from Soviet Union in 1989. So plenty of implemented good ideas and solutions were for us possible in 90. Since then we signed many european laws, legal documents concerning disabilities, and disability as phenomena was broadly introduced in Polish public spaces. What, as phenomena, may be surprising to you, Nageswara. So we have about 30 years delay in comparison to complex of US. steps towards inclusion of persons with disabilities, however we also have (and had before) good and original concepts, traditions in education, care and rehabilitation too.

Dear @Miranda, I agree with Kamal and you. Btw. In my opinion national level of financial support is needed as important for studying time at the university. We do have such called PFRON (National Fund for Rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities) who supports with different financial programs our students too.

I share my photo, from exhibition of art works by persons with mild, moderate and severe intellectual disabilities, from The Workshop for Developing the Creativity of Persons with Disabilities. This was prepared in December 2013 in the corridor of our Faculty.

Universities are like any other institution in civilised society, they should be fully equipped structurally and logistically to accomodate all the needs of disabled students and staff. The most basic facilities provided should include disabled low floor access, disabled toilets, disabled acoomodation, braille catalogues in the library...etc.

Some countries are well advanced in this regards. For example, accessing a restaurant, a post office, a shopping centre, or a university, is becoming a lot easier for disabled individuals compared with previous years. The United Kingdom city councils, for example, only provide planning permissions for buildings of public use on the basis of making provisions for disabled people. Thus, having an institutionalised legal framework facilitates the diffusion of a culture that considers the needs of disabled people as an intergal part of society.

Dear @Taiar, Thank you for emphasizing human aspects of help in the campus.

Dear @Mohamed, good points, about architecture. I have to add, that our new public buildings are all obligated to have such equipment as lifts, special toilets, footlights. Much worse is with architectural accessibility, for persons with physical disabilities, in Old Town of Toruń, because, my city is medieval one with gothic architecture, as on the picture.

Dear Beata

fortunatelly thing regarding this matter have improved quite substantially. Today, every infrastructure within public (and some private) buildings -and that of course includes Universities, are obliged by law to fullfill all the requisites of functionality for most types of both phisycal and mental disabilities. In our particular case, since the buildings of the University Campus I work in are new, all those aspects were considered architechturaly and in the engineering aspects.

Cheers,

JP

Dear Kamal, we do have students as assistants of students with disabilities, during seminars or lectures, who write content of lectures or seminars, for students with vision problems.

La Universidad de La Serena ha creado un Programa de Apoyo a Estudiantes con Discapacidad sensorial y física y tiene siete años de funcionamiento. Hemos tenido aciertos pero nos quedan muchos desafíos. Sin embargo la pregunta podría ser al revés. ¿Las universidades necesitan incorporar estudiantes con discapacidad para alcanzar sus metas?

@Beata, let us say in one sentence, as it is shown! Than, everything is easier toward the full inclusion of them!

Dear @Georgina, Thank you for your contribution and for key question in the end. I translated your comment into English, so others can also respond.

Georgina said: "The University of La Serena has created a Program to Support Students with sensory and physical disabilities and has seven years of operation. We have had successes but we are many challenges. But the question could be reversed. Do colleges need to incorporate students with disabilities to achieve their goals?"

Dear @Ljubomir, thank you for visualization. Holistic approach is needed world wide like the air we breathe.

It seems to me that, although there is a lot of attention to the problem of disability by the media and also the institutions, the focus is much more theoretical than practical. However, something is done, I think, around the world. The problem in my opinion is that what we do for the disabled is always little compared to what "we should do."

Dear Ierardi, Thank you, good points.

It would be interesting if we can hear from a disabled person how he/she thinks about the facilities being provided.

Estimada Beata

Gracias por traducir mi comentario para que los demas puedan comprenderlo y gracias a todos por sus aportes. El tema que planteo es el siguiente: todas las instituciones educacionales si realmente aspiran a educar deben hacer los ajustes necesarios para asegurar la igualdad de oportunidades educacionales. En Chile la situación es muy compleja porque el Estado no garantiza los recursos para realizar tal labor. Los colegios, liceos y universidades deben concursar año a año para optar a recursos. Mi universidad igual mantiene este apoyo. Además, hemos comenzado a trabajar colaborativamente con los niveles educacionales de niños pequeños y estamos evaluando la propuesta de la Universidad. Me gustaría saber de otras evaluaciones de universidades inclusivas con estudiantes con discapacidad.

Dear Georgina, ad Dear Kamal, I translated this only with google translator. Somehow it works. :))

Dear All, Georgina just wrote:

"Dear Beata

Please translate my comment so that others can understand and thank everyone for their contributions. The issue I raise is this: all educational institutions aim to educate if you really must make the necessary adjustments to ensure equal educational opportunities. In Chile the situation is very complex because the state does not guarantee the resources to conduct such work. Schools, colleges and universities should compete every year to qualify for resources. My university just keeps this support. We have also begun to work collaboratively with educational levels of young children and we are evaluating the proposal of the University. I wonder further evaluation of inclusive universities with students with disabilities".

Thank you, Georgina for contribution. I appreciate this.

It also certainly appears not to be necessarily institution dependent but programme dependent also. In my experience some programmes are far better suited in assisting individuals with a recognised disability. For example, health professions. We must constantly consider how we can facilitate students both academically and within a placement context. In fact, we undertaking some research to see how students with a SpLD can be better assisted whilst on placement to further their experience and uphold HCPC regulations.

Will keep you posted...

Dear Beata, I have missed to post a link that is connected to a picture from my previous answer! Here it is! Good blog!

http://www.jjslist.com/blog/person-first-language-101

The work our institution employs utilizes a case management approach with custom recommendation plans to best accommodate the students.  These are recorded in an electronic database and progression is earmarked to assess the effect of the followed plans. 

possible assistance services provided to students with disabilities include such as

• accommodations
• alternative texts
• interpreting
• lecture notes
• testing arrangements
• self-advocacy guidance, etc.

http://bulletin.marquette.edu/undergrad/personalresourcesandfacilities/

In addition to providing many of the things listed above we include a session in our new faculty seminar on interactions with student with special needs.