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Focus: Transition
Topic: New Service Models
Birgit Drolshagen, Birgit Rothenberg
University of Dortmund, Fakultät Rehabilitationswissenschaften
Emil-Figge-Straße 50
44221 Dortmund Germany
+49 231 755-4579 -2848
Birgit.Drolshagen@uni-dortmund.de
Birgit.Rothenberg@uni-dortmund.de
Our contribution consists of three parts. At the beginning, we present the specific approach of the Dortmund Center Handicap and Study (Dortmunder Zentrum Behinderung und Studium - DoBuS), which is based on the analysis of present conditions of university studies for handicapped students at German universities. In the second part, we shall introduce example elements of DoBuS, which reflect the principles of our work. In the third part, based on practical application and research at the University of Dortmund, we shall name the necessary changes at universities concerning the organisation of university studies according to the special needs of handicapped students and will show several starting points of realisation.
I. The Dortmund approach - from support of individuals to structural reform
The situation of handicapped students at German universities is marked by manifold barriers and a lack of necessary structures, such as services, individual counselling etc. While most universities do not provide such structures, there are a few universities which endeavour to consider the special needs of handicapped students by offering appropriate support services. They largely direct their offer to students with a certain disability or to some selected subjects of study [[i]].
As a
consequence of the barriers and the lack of services for handicapped students,
the latter not only have to compensate individually for the needs resulting
from their personal disabilities, but, in addition, have to deal with the
fundamental lack of structures at the universities. The less the offers of a
university correspond to the special needs of handicapped students, that is,
the more exclusive the conditions are organised, the more individual extra work
and compensation is demanded of the handicapped students. Therefore these
students have to rely most notably on individual counselling.
This necessity would exist even at a non-exclusive university, which answers
the special needs of handicapped students because of the still remaining
compensation of the disability. Because in all of Germany there is nearly no
individual counselling provided at present, handicapped students are
additionally forced to take care of the required compensation for lacking
structures on their own, that means without any support.
A lack of service and counselling offers means a serious disadvantage compared to fellow students without handicap.
The University of Dortmund endeavours to reduce those disadvantages to the degree which the disability calls for by providing non-exclusive structural offers, and, simultaneously, supporting the compensation for the needs that result from disabilities by individual counselling. We are guided by the principle: All students must be given the opportunity to study any subject they want at any university they choose independent of their disability. Consequently, the disability may neither determine their selected subject nor their chosen university. That means that exclusive conditions which go along with the need for individual compensation must be substituted by offers of the universities for handicapped students. By this, the necessity for compensation and individual support is reduced to the degree which the disability calls for. A non-exclusive university which corresponds to the needs of handicapped students is being created.
The course which DoBuS follows to a university suited for students with special needs starts with counselling and individual support of students on their way to realise their studies. It includes as well collecting, systematisating and analysing problems recognized during this process as the development of models for individual solutions. According to Total Quality Management the reduction of identified barriers and disadvantages results from providing specific elements for support and from the modification of handicapping structures. This process conforms to the current need of handicapped and chronically ill students and approaches by and by the aim of an non-exclusive university. Therefore it is a flexible method with sustainable effect.
Dortmund
approach Individual
counselling and support individualized
accomodation in
organizing their studies of
the university reduction of identified barriers and
disadvantages collecting,
systematisating und analysing problems developing
models for individual solutions modification of
handicapping structures creating and
providing specific
elements improved
structures
The ”Centre of Counselling and Service for Students with special needs” (Beratungsdienst behinderter und chronisch kranker Studierender; BbS)[[ii]] was set up in 1977 as the first of its kind in Germany. The BbS consults handicapped and chronically ill students and people, who are interested in matriculating, and supports them in realising their studies at the University of Dortmund.
Fields of activities:
· as a main point preparatory as well as accompanying advice and support of handicapped and chronically ill students concerning questions as the organisation of their studies, building up and using Study Assistance and Personal Assistance, realisation of legal claims, financing, dealing with disability and handicap at the university;
· information and advice for handicapped and chronically ill pupils interested in studying at university, irrespective of the university they intend to register at. They should be enabled to handle problems they will be confronted with by a hindering university. They should also be able to develop solution strategies;
On the one hand, the BbS supports handicapped students to graduate successfully in spite of insufficient and sometimes exclusive studying conditions.
On the other hand, it initiates and implements structural changes based on the experiences gained in the counselling service with the aim to reduce as far as possible the extra work handicapped students have to master in order to compensate for structural deficiencies at the university.
The “Working Place for Students with special
needs and pool of electronic study Aids”(Arbeitsraum und Hilfsmittelpool für
behinderte Studierende, AfB) was opened in 1992 [[iii]]. It supplies conventional and
electronic aids, especially for blind, visually, hearing or physically impaired
students. Some of those tools may be borrowed by handicapped students and used
in the lectures. Other tools are intended for stationary use, e. g. computers with
braille-display or voice-input. Moreover, some tools (e.g. extra large
monitors) can be borrowed by teachers for demonstrations of hard- or software,
if there is any visually impaired student taking part in the lecture. Extensive
dictionaries stored on CD-ROM as well as the internet connection enable
visually and severely physically impaired students to research on their own.
At certain times there are some tutors at the students’ disposal to answer
questions and give information about the equipment and the applicability of the
tools.
The “AfB”
By the arrangement of user-meetings it is tried to solve unsolved problems of the AfB and, by the participation of the handicapped students, to initiate needed or desired changes.
As a central service of the university the Adaptation Service for Adapting Study Material Suitable for Blind and Visually Impaired Students (Umsetzungsdienst zur sehgeschädigtengerechten Adaption von Studienmaterialien, UD) produces and distributes study related materials. This service can be used by all handicapped students and their teachers and is particularly geared towards blind and visually impaired students. By this, it is possible to achieve the necessary differentiation during lectures. It transfers study materials, e.g. hand-outs, notes, articles, into Braille or large print, or records them digitally or on audio tape. The order to adapt the study material can be given by the visual impaired students themselves or by their teachers. The adaptation of study materials follows the criterion of an academic textural adaptation, so that it is e.g. possible to citate in a correct manner. The form of media, which the study materials are adapted to, is depended on the need or the wish of the visually impaired student, respectively. Books in their whole are not adapted because of capacity reasons but the University Library offers an adaptation service for whole books.
Within the scope of the UD there are regular user meetings, too.
III On the need for reforming universities in regard to the needs of handicapped students
In the final explanations we would like to show the general need of a reform that must be achieved with regard to the organisation of a university suitable for students with special needs. Therefore, we will take a closer look at the course of studying in the following four areas: organisation of studies, acquiring knowledge, processing knowledge, exams. Other topics, p. e. campus-life, housing we don´t explain for lack of time.
Concerning the
organisation of study, the advice of handicapped students plays an important
role as a connecting point between
students and university. This area not only includes the individual advising of
students, but also the systematic recording of structural deficiencies which
forms the starring point for the initiation of structural changes.
With regard to the need of reform at German universities, the until today
insufficiently developed offer of counselling for handicapped students must be
developed everywhere. Moreover, a
minimum standard of the counselling service must be secured, by explicitly
obliging counsellors for this duty and giving the necessary training to them.
Related to the need of changes in the area of organisation of studies, the
transitions at the beginning and at the end of the university study also play a
significant role. Thus, on the one hand, general offers, such as orientation
tutorials must be made accessible to handicapped students, e.g. by further
education for the tutors. On the other hand, special offers must be created for
handicapped students to enable them to acquire key qualifications in the area
of the use of software and of personal assistance.
The need of changes in the legal area refers to a reform of university and
college laws as well as of the specific constitution of the respective
university: Throughout these areas the rights of handicapped students must be
stated very precise and the right of non-discrimination must be judicially
anchored.
A further essential element of reform refers to the accessibility of
informations concerning the university: schedules, official announcements and
information systems must be accessible for handicapped students, that is, they
must be offered not only in regular print but also in Braille, in large print
or on tape. These demands for breaking down the barriers also refer to offers
within the internet.
According to the chronological course of university study, we now focus on the
area of acquiring knowledge. Here, the claim for a library whose offers are
suitable for students with special needs plays an important part: every book
must be accessible for visually impaired and blind students. Furthermore, the
accessibility to information systems of the library, such as its online
catalogue, must be guaranteed for handicapped students. Scripts and study
materials must be present in print as well as in a form of media suitable for
visually impaired and blind people at the same time.
Another central aim is a special training and counselling of teachers with
regard to didactics suitable for students with special needs. Furthermore,
handicaps which make the acquiring of knowledge more difficult, must be
minimised by special tutorials.
Students with hearing problems are afflicted with serious restrictions in
acquiring knowledge if a lecture is based on oral speech. Therefore, qualified
translators of sign language must be trained in translating simultaneously
university lectures. The specific need for change at university in the area of
processing knowledge may be realised as an offer of access to the internet that
is suitable for handicapped students and adapted computer working places as
well as in the providing of specific working places and pools of electronic
study aids. Furthermore, to eliminate the disadvantages concerning processing
of knowledge, general tutorials, for example on creative writing, must be
organised in consideration of the participation of students with special needs.
At the same time, in addition to this general offer, specific tutorials must be
added that enable handicapped students to gain key qualifications they need for
their study, such as tutorials on German written language for students with
hearing problems.
In the area of exams, the fourth of the areas within the course of study that
need a change, there is a need to implement the compensation for disadvantages
into the regulations of study and exams. Also new and individual forms of
organisation of certifications and practices must be reflected on.
Finally, the steps required to achieve a reform with the aim to design a
university suitable for students with special needs can be summarised as
follows:
·
All
consisting or future decrees, programs, guidelines, measures and so on of the
state concerning university as well as all analogous offers the universities
have for their students must principally be checked with regard to:
- the consideration of the interests of handicapped students
- whether additional measures are required and scheduled;
· The contents of the curricula must be checked to make sure that they express the interests of handicapped people.
· The accomplishments on the way to becoming a university suitable for handicapped students must be a criterion for the evaluation and reviews of the universities.
In our opinion each university in each contray has to prove the own level concerning this reform process to go the next steps.
[i] Solarová, S., Eröffnungsreferat, in: B. Drolshagen, B. Rothenberg u.a. (Hrsg.), Behinderung und Studium. Rückblick, Stand und Perspektiven, Bochum 1999
[ii] Rothenberg, B., Der Beratungsdienst behinderter Studierender an der Universität Dortmund, in: Die neue Sonderschule. Zeitschrift für Theorie und Praxis der pädagogischen Rehabilitation. 44. Jahrgang, 4 (1999)
[iii] Drolshagen, B., Arbeitsraum und Hilfsmittelpool für behinderte Studierende - Universität Dortmund, in: B. Drolshagen und B. Rothenberg u.a. (Hrsg.), Behinderung und Studium. Rückblick, Stand und Perspektiven, Bochum 1999.
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