Making education accessible for students with special needs is possible. It just takes time.
The (most) important thing is cooperation between the teacher and the student with disabilities.
Each student requires different types of support. Many need extra time for studying or require specialized equipment to help them with work.
It is important to not simply focus on the academic support but also residential assistance. For physically disabled students moving from their dormitory room to the classrooms can be made a lot easier if there are lifts or simply wider walk ways and roads. Of course sometimes it is hard to make buildings accessible, but even then it is possible to provide students with personal assistants.
Students with disabilities also have to remember to be independent to the best of their abilities as this will help in overcoming their limitations. For example, today education is a very visual experience which is difficult for students with visual impairments. It is hard to learn from graphs, diagrams, pictures or texts when you have severe vision limitations or blindness. The student’s attitude here is very important as they must help the teacher to find the best way of supporting the student.
One of the most worthy things a teacher can do to is to let the students know that they can succeed in many different ways. The best way to do this is to enable them to fully participate in class. Disabled students shouldn’t be made to feel worse or different despite their limitations.
This article was written by partially sighted UWC Red Cross Nordic student Marta Hanyżkiewicz from Poland
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