As a doctor who lost his vision due to cataract disease, Dr. Emmanuel Ita Bassey says he learned quickly that disability was not a recognized concept in his native Nigeria. He says the educational curriculum there also wasn’t accessible for people with disabilities.
Wanting to pursue a master’s degree in disability policy and practice, Bassey sought educational options overseas at Flinders University in Australia.
“I browsed through the school website, and I discovered that the school disability services offer a wide range of support for students with disabilities, including students with visual impairment,” says Bassey.
The term “disability” typically refers to a physical or mental impairment that may limit a student’s access to education. While students with disabilities may be hesitant to go abroad, many countries have laws requiring universities to support the needs of all disabled students.
For example, under the United Kingdom‘s Equality Act 2010, all universities must make “reasonable adjustments” to their services so that domestic and international students with disabilities aren’t placed at a substantial disadvantage. In Australia, the Disability Discrimination Act protects all students with disabilities from discrimination.
Prospective international students with disabilities may be unsure of available support services. Here are three key factors they should look for when exploring global universities.
1. Detailed information online: Most universities have a dedicated webpage devoted to students with disabilities. For example, the University of San Francisco Student Disabilities Services’ webpage details the many ways USF accommodates students.
Tom Merrell, assistant dean and director of SDS at the school, says the website provides an overview of the program philosophy; general information on disabilities, laws, rights and responsibilities; contact and registration information; document requirements; and descriptions of various available accommodations.
Other universities, including the University of Leeds in the U.K., devote a page specifically to disabled international students. The Leeds page welcomes international applicants with disabilities and provides detailed information on the university’s academic and financial support services.
Armineh Soorenian, a disabled international student from Iran who graduated in 2011 from the University of Leeds with a doctorate in disability studies, says researching a school’s website prior to attending can help students obtain information on everything from campus accessibility to specific support, “such as braille or audio handouts, sign language interpretation, mentoring and personal assistance schemes.”
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2. Strong support services: Some schools, like USF and the University of Liverpool in the U.K., have an international students office that works with the institution’s disability team to support international students with disabilities.
Merrell says the SDS office at USF offers pre-admission counseling and a Skype orientation to international students with disabilities. He says that once students are accepted to the school and have requested services, “they are assigned a specialist who evaluates their request and coordinates any reasonable accommodations or academic program modifications.”
While other schools may not have those two offices partner up, they may still offer strong support services. Lorraine Ishmael-Byers, head of student disability at King’s College London, says the school’s disability advisers provide a daily drop-in service for students to help answer any immediate concerns.
[Learn what to look for in international student services.]
She says the school has specialist learning support that provides online resources and group study sessions, as well as one-on-one study skills development and assistive software.
Kirsten Read, a disability adviser at Flinders University, says the school provides “the same services for domestic and international students with a disability” to meet their campus-related needs.
For example, Read says the university funds captioning and transcription of lectures and other audio and video academic content online for students who have hearing impairments. She says they also provide computers to students who cannot handwrite exams in a timely manner due to their disability as well as access to disability-related software on campus computers, such as voice-recognition software.
3. Active student disability organizations: Committees and clubs for disabled students at global universities can provide prospective international students with assistance and advice about campus life and support services.
For example, groups like Flinders University’s Disability Committee can be good resources and include campuswide staff and students with disabilities who work together to make the institution accessible for all students. Read says the Disability Committee’s student representatives speak from experience and are “strong advocates for access and inclusion.”
While a student at the University of Leeds, Soorenian was president of the Disabled Students Society. She based her doctoral thesis on the experiences of disabled international students at U.K. universities, later expanding this into a book.
She recommends prospective international students with disabilities communicate with course tutors, disability coordinators and students to “find out the reality of the support offered” and get “an indication of how much the university is willing to take into consideration their disability needs.”
British national Bam Thomas, a University of Sheffield undergrad with dyslexia, reached out to disability staff at France’s Sciences Po before her year abroad, but says she never received responses to her emails. Upon her arrival, she was also unable to find support staff to assist her. A professor, though, directed her to the right contact to receive accommodations.
Students should be “persistent to ensure that they receive all the support they need,” Thomas says.
“I had an excellent experience with the disability services at Flinders University,” says Bassey who earned his master’s in 2016 and plans to pursue a doctorate in disability studies. “All my needs and required supports to enable me to undertake my studies were met.”
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Explore Global Universities’ Disability Support Services originally appeared on usnews.com
