Students with Disabilities General Guidelines Editor: Lelia Kiš-Glavaš Authors: Andrea Fajdetić Thomas Farnell Nataša Jokić-Begić Lelia Kiš-Glavaš Mirjana Lenček Damir Miholić Ljubica Pribanić Snježana Sekušak-Galešev 1 FOREWORD This handbook is one in a series of handbooks entitled Students with Disabilities created as part of the TEMPUS project Education for Equal Opportunities at Croatian Universities – EduQuality (Nr: 158757-TEMPUS-1-2009-1-HR-TEMPUS-JPGR) led by the University of Zagreb. The series aims at equalizing the opportunities of students with disabilities to access higher education by informing, training and raising awareness of the academic and non- academic staff at Croatian universities and their constituents with regard to the specific needs of such students within Croatia’s higher education system. We consider students with disabilities to include students with vision and hearing impairments, motor impairment, chronic disease and learning difficulties such as dyslexia and ADHD, as well as students with mental disturbances and disorders. By categorizing these students as students with disabilities our intention is by no means to stigmatize or brand them, but rather to emphasize the need for accommodation of academic content to such students, as well as to present some examples of good practice. The handbooks were written by members of all partner institutions in the project: the academic and non-academic staff of the University of Zagreb, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University in Osijek and the Universities of Rijeka, Zadar, Split and Dubrovnik; students with and without disabilities; and a representative of Croatia’s Institute for the Development of Education. Particularly invaluable was the help we received from our colleagues from partner institutions abroad (the University of Århus, Masaryk University, the University of Strathclyde and the University of Gothenburg), who offered concrete advice and guidelines based on their vast experience in supporting students with disabilities. Each handbook covers an important aspect of students’ academic life, defining it and explaining its importance with regard to the acquisition of necessary professional competences. At the same time, the handbooks point to some obstacles that can exist with regard to accessibility, in an attempt to identify the preconditions for overcoming such obstacles without compromising the defined academic standards. By emphasizing the rights of all students to equal access to higher education and by proposing measures that can equalize opportunities, often in a simple way and at no additional cost, these handbooks aim at contributing to the definition of clear accessibility standards for students with disabilities at the national level. 2 I would like to use this opportunity to thank all the contributors who took part, either directly or indirectly, in the creation of these handbooks. I am particularly grateful to former, current and future students with disabilities who have used and will continue to use their perseverance, courage, patience and great motivation to build the much-needed support system for students with disabilities in Croatia’s higher education by pointing out their specific needs and simple ways in which these needs can be met. However, their efforts would continue to be in vain if it had not been for a large number of academic and non-academic staff members who have provided support to students with disabilities in practice, often without the existence of clear guidelines and relying only on their empathy and wish to improve the situation. I believe that these handbooks will provide them with clear and systematic guidelines that will facilitate their future work. Dr. Lelia Kiš-Glavaš, Project Leader 3 INTRODUCTION General Guidelines, the only handbook that endeavors to lay down guidelines concerning the support system for students with disabilities in higher education in the Republic of Croatia, specifically mentions groups of disabled students defined according to the criterion of their impairment or illness. We specifically sought to avoid such an approach, following the principle of universal, (i.e., inclusive) design, by means of which accommodations are created in all areas of life that enable all people, regardless of their attributes, to have maximal access to goods and services as well as equal access to social activities. Nevertheless, in order to participate in the creation of such accomodations, it is necessary for us to “put ourselves in the shoes” of those who need permanent or temporary accommodation. In order to understand what types of accommodation need to be made for students with disabilities, it is important to have as complete an understanding as possible of the characteristics and unique features of their functioning, as well as the limits presented by their impairments and illnesses, on the one hand, and the obstacles that contemporary society presents them, on the other, which encumber their access to higher education. The articles you will find in this handbook were thus written with the aim of introducing you to equal opportunities at the global level, but also to a contemporary approach to the phenomenon of disability and to the students with disabilities themselves: students with vision and hearing impairments, deaf-and-blind students, students with physical disabilities (such as motoric disturbances and chronic illnesses), students with dyslexia, students with ADHD, and students with psychological illnesses and disturbances. I believe that, when you have some knowledge about the difficulties that they encounter on a daily basis in their academic life, you will see how motivated, courageous, and persevering they are in their endeavors to get a college or university education. Lelia Kiš-Glavaš, Handbook Editor NOTE: This handbook was translated from Croatian into English by the following students of translation in the English Department of the University of Zagreb: Mišo Grundler, Neda Batinić, Mirna Blažević, Kornelija Čakarun, Katarina Cerovečki, Martina Jurić, Eva Cukor, Ana Đukić, Andrea Karamatić, Jelena Katić, Tanja Kovač. The translation was revised by their teacher, Dr. Alexander D. Hoyt. 4 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS FOREWORD INTRODUCTION EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES IN EDUCATION IN GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE Thomas Farnell, Institute for the Development of Education STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES IN THE HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEM OF THE REPUBLIC OF CROATIA Lelia Kiš-Glavaš, Faculty of Education and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Zagreb VISUALLY IMPAIRED STUDENTS Andrea Fajdetić, Faculty of Education and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Zagreb STUDENTS WITH HEARING IMPAIRMENTS Ljubica Pribanić, Faculty of Education and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Zagreb STUDENTS WITH PHYSICAL DISABILITIES Damir Miholić, Faculty of Education and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Zagreb DISLEXIC STUDENTS Mirjana Lenček, Faculty of Education and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Zagreb STUDENTS WITH ATTENTION DEFICIT HYPERACTIVITY DISORDER (ADHD) Snježana Sekušak-Galešev, Faculty of Education and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Zagreb STUDENTS WITH MENTAL ILLNESSES AND DISORDERS Nataša Jokić-Begić, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb CLOSING REMARKS 6 Thomas Farnell EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES IN EDUCATION IN GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE Introduction The principle of equal opportunities in education is becoming a priority for states and education institutions at the global level. Concepts such as the right to education, inclusive education, the social dimension of education, Education for All, and the like have become common in international education debates as well as in debates concerning human rights, social inclusion, and economic development. Today, there are also global initiatives that endorse the right to education and equal opportunities in education, two such major initiatives being UNESCO’s Education for All (EFA) movement and the measures implemented as part of the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The principle of equal opportunities in education includes people with disabilities, one of the most vulnerable social groups faced with serious obstacles at all levels of education. At the global level, one-third of all the children who are not in school are children with disabilities or children with developmental delays (UNESCO 2009). Moreover, the principle of equal opportunities includes many other groups who are excluded from the education system or who are not sufficiently represented in the system based upon their share in the overall population. Among others, this includes people of lower socio-economic status; people from rural areas; racial, ethnic, and other minorities; and in many countries, women, as well. The concept of equal opportunities can also be applied to people or groups who are being discriminated against on account of their age, religion, sexuality, or other characteristics. Those who want to know and understand how and why the equality of access to higher education and quality education should be provided for students with disabilities in Croatia ought to understand the principle of equal opportunities in a much wider context – which means equality for all vulnerable groups at all levels of education and from a global perspective. That is why this introductory text will provide answers to the following questions: 7 Why is access to education important not only from the human rights perspective, but also for the development of society