People can become disabled at any stage of their lives.
Disability is a variable concept, not a health category and not a disease. It is a condition that results from the interaction of a person’s individual issues and factors, with environmental factors. The consequences of this can create barriers for a person with a disability, and may hinder them from participating, fully and effectively, in society on an equal basis with others.
Source: Kondor, Légmán 2019.
According to the Act on the Rights and Equal Opportunities of Persons with Disabilities, “a person is disabled if he or she has permanent or permanent sensory, communication, physical, intellectual, psychosocial impairment or any accumulation thereof, which interacts with environmental, social and other significant barriers to effective and restricts or inhibits equal social participation with others” – according the Act XXVI. of 1998 (Fot) and the modification in the Act LXII. of 2013, Article §1.
Source: Kondor 2019.
How can people with disabilities participate in university life?
We must ensure equal access to learning and work for students and employees with disabilities, in order to provide barrier-free access to the services, facilities and buildings of the university, and to help provide the same opportunities as enjoyed by other students/employees. For the purpose of achieving this, not only are the material conditions necessary for this, but also the support of the university community.
People with disabilities can participate fully in university life if there is barrier-free parking next to the university building, if there are threshold-free rooms, if there are barrier-free restrooms, if there are barrier-free workstations, if there are Braille inscriptions, if there is loop amplification. People with disabilities can find their place if we do not hurt anyone because he or she thinks differently, looks different, believes differently, is able or unable to be different, and cannot have living conditions that are different. If there is an inclusive community at the university, there is a respect for inclusion and for human dignity and diversity. Such inclusiveness, makes it self-evident that if someone encounters obstacles at some point in their university life, such a person should be supported.
A university that embraces people with disabilities, is a place where the experience of disability is considered to be valuable, and where the person with a disability is recognised as an equal member of the university. Such a university accepts that a person with disabilities should have a say in the development of decisions and knowledge that affects him or her, and that such a person can contribute to their realization, and thereby further enrich university life.
If you want to know more about disability, equal opportunities, or if you are affected, please contact us!
Centre for Inclusion and Diversity: legman.anna@uni-bge.hu
Kapcsolódó videó: