Making Higher Education Accessible and Inclusive
Science claims that humans have evolved and walked the earth for millions of years. But Science fails to map out the sociality of humans throughout the ye a r s . Anthropologists make it their business to record and understand human social life. A poorly sourced but a potent quotation attributed to Margret Mead, an eminent American Cultural Anthropologist is best suited to introduce the subject matter of this article.
A broken femur that has healed is evidence that someone has taken time to stay with the one who fell, has bound up the wound, has carried the person to safety, and has tended the person through recovery. Helping someone else through difficulty is where civilisation starts.
What I wish to draw from the above quotation is of human fragility. Though we proudly claim to be the most intelligent creature on earth, able to create, innovate, and defy nature, we are easily incapacitated. It is at such moments of frailty that we need support. The willingness to help, to be of empathy, to accommodate the vulnerable are features of a civilised society. As Mead may or may not have said, it is the beginning of civilisation. At a time when the world is at the prime of civilisation, this article focus on how higher education in Sri Lanka is structuring itself to include persons with disabilities. The Faculty of Arts, University of Colombo has taken the first steps to ensure persons with disabilities have access to higher education. The largest and the most diverse Faculty in the University is bringing true meaning to what a University should be; diverse and inclusive.
Disability in Sri Lanka
Before detailing about the initiative, let me first layout the background to disability in Sri Lanka. The world health survey conducted by the World Bank in 2011 states that there is a 12.9 prevalence rate of disability in Sri Lanka.
The tsunami that struck the island in 2004 and the civil war that ended in 2009 resulted in an increase of physical impairments and mental illnesses. In addition, road accidents, personal violence and conflict are reported to cause impairments among the population. Sri Lanka has put in place legal provisions to accommodate disability by introducing many Acts including the Rehabilitation of the Visually Handicapped Trust Fund Act No.9 of 1992, Protection of Persons with Disabilities Act no. 28 of 1996, and the National Policy on Disability for Sri Lanka of 2003.
Additionally, the country has signed the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) in March 2007. However, the effective implementation of such legalities is dubious.
Disability within the socio-cultural context of Sri Lanka is understood mainly through a lens of charity linked with religion. Being a predominantly Buddhist country, disability is understood within the concept of bad karma that results from demerit generated in past or present lives. Such ideologies compel to view persons with disabilities as sinners. Consequently, persons with disabilities are highly stigmatised and discriminated in society.
Persons with disabilities are excluded from social life and are restricted to their home environments or orphanages. A survey conducted by the World Bank in 2003 claims that 39 percent of persons with disability have never attended school.
Further, only 33 percent are involved in public events in their communities. Poverty is 52 percent higher than the national average amongst the households with persons with disabilities. The prominent cultural discourse on disability in Sri Lanka promotes persons with disabilities as helpless and needing help. Such intimations have its own positives and negatives. On a positive note, persons with disabilities will be able to attract assistance and welfare to live their lives, in a negative sense they will be discouraged to be independent, support themselves, and live their lives in their own terms.
The initiative taken by the Faculty of Arts, University of Colombo is attempting to encourage persons with disabilities to live their lives in their own terms by obtaining a higher education
that would lead to employment and a secured future.
The Centre for Disability Research, Education, and Practice (CEDREP)
The Faculty of Arts, University of Colombo is one of the first in Sri Lanka to accommodate a special intake from the University Grants Commission (UGC) for students with disabilities to study undergraduate programmes offered by the Faculty. Every academic year the Faculty receives 25 to 30 students with disabilities.
For years these students merged into the student body of the Faculty and with the help of their peers and faculty passed out with Bachelor of Arts degrees. In recent years the Faculty under the leadership of Professor Chandani Liyanage, Department of Sociology, Faculty of Arts established the Centre for Disability Research, Education, and Practice (CEDREP) to promote and provide academic leadership in the fields of disability research, education and practice for national and international agencies and organisations concerned about people with
disabilities and their families.
A core objective of the centre is to advocate for accessible and inclusive education in the higher education sector for students with disabilities. The centre was developed and revamped with funding support from the Accelerating Higher Education Expansion and Development (AHEAD) Project of the World Bank that was awarded to the Faculty of Arts consequent to a proposal written by Ms. Avanka Fernando, Department of Sociology, Faculty of Arts. The centre is closely associated with the Department of Sociology of the Faculty of Arts due to disciplinary similarities and common interests.
CEDREP maintains a Support Centre for Students with Disabilities (SCSD) that is equipped to provide the students with disabilities with assistive technology to counter their disability.
The SCSD was first established with funding support from Jinasena Training and Rehabilitation Trust in 2008. At present the SCSD is further enhanced with funding support from the AHEAD Project. The centre owns assistive devices that support students with disabilities, especially the visually impaired, to read and write. The SCSD conducts training workshops for students with disabilities on assistive devices and mobility and orientation.
The SCSD also maintains an audio book library facility for students with disabilities enabling them to access books online from anywhere. In addition, translations from English and Sinhala texts to Braille are prepared for the use of visually impaired students. The SCSD supports the students with disabilities during examinations to ensure that they are accommodated adequately.
CEDREP also conducts courses for academics and non-academics in the university system to develop their knowledge in disability education and practice. Overall, CEDREP is shaping to be a catalyst institution within the university system to advocate for inclusive and accessible higher education. Some recently organised key events by CEDREP for disability advocacy is detailed in the next section.
Recently, under the guidance of the Vice Chancellor, University of Colombo, Senior Professor Chandrika N. Wijeyaratne, CEDREP together with the International Federation for Electoral Systems (IFES) started a programme to foster civic engagement and build leadership skills among students with disabilities. The first round of the programme was conducted from 6th December 2021 to 16th December 2021 for 18 students with disabilities.
The programme equips participants with local strategies for addressing barriers to leadership and enhances their knowledge of local political and electoral systems. The programme is complemented by experiential learning opportunities, such as study tours to visit government ministries, the national legislature, and development partner organisations or civil society organisations.
Participants build on the new skills developed by putting lessons learned into action. They are empowered to conduct an advocacy or communitybuilding project with support of a microgrant or to intern with a government stakeholder.
Students with disabilities apply the skills developed through the course to work locally to increase the outreach of government stakeholders and participation of persons with disabilites in their communities.
Simultaeously, CEDREP organised two workshops for 16 students with visual impairement on mobility and orientation and assistive device training with funding from the AHEAD project. At the mobility and orientation workshop the students were taught techniques to use a white cane to find their way around the Faculty, to sit and dine, to walk on pavements around the campus. The goal of this workshop was to make students with visual impirement independent to move in and around the Faculty.
The workshop was conducted by Ms Surani Fernando, a retired teacher from the Ratmalana School for the Deaf and Blind. The assistive device training introduced the students with visual impairement to use the braille typewriter, braille display, daisy player, and the braille embosser. Using these devices students can write their assessments and lecture notes in braille and translate them to Sinhala or English instantly.
The assistive device training workshop was conducted by Mr Kasun Nayanajith, Computer Instructor (Special Needs), University of Sri Jayewerdenapura and Mr. Suranaga Perera, Alternative Communication Officer, CEDREP. These workshops are the first of its kind in the university system in Sri Lanka.
CEDREP has prepared a Disability Handbook detailing of techniques to use to enhance accessibility in teaching, learning, and assessment of undergraduate degree programmes for students with disabilities.
The handbook serves as a guide for academics to incorporate several techniques to accommodate students with disabilities in their classes. The book also has information for students about the various facilities available for the students with disabilities within the University.
A significant mechanism put in place is a student volunteering scheme called the ‘Buddy System’ where students can volunteer to assist students with disabilities in hostels, in the library, or in class.
The handbook is freely available for anyone to use in the CEDREP webpage.
Prospects for Future
The Faculty of Arts, University of Colombo has pioneered inclusive, accessible higher education with the establishment of CEDREP. The centre is still young and sprouting ideas to become a model institute that other universities in Sri Lanka can adapt and follow.
At present only the Faculty of Arts accommodates a special intake for students with disabilities. These students can join the Faculty of Education in their second year of their undergraduate degree programme based on their first-year performance. However, there are few students with disabilities joining the Faculty of Law and the Faculty of Science through general intakes. CEDREP hopes to expand its trainings on disability inclusive education for all academics in the university system. CEDREP also plans to launch two certificate courses on Braille and Sri Lankan Sign Language in 2022.
Moreover, CEDREP will initiate research on disability and invites researchers in Sri Lanka and abroad to affiliate with the centre.
In addition, CEDREP is hoping to collaborate with the University Grants Commission (UGC) of
Sri Lanka to advocate for inclusive higher education for persons with disabilities and to gain the necessary support to ensure that students with disabilities are properly accommodated within the university system.