New
Inclusive Education at UIS
By Jeyra Vargas and Cristina Palomino
A closer Look
“...professors were not aware of my condition when I started studying, they didn’t know how to readjust their lessons to meet my needs.”
“Of course. I would love to help! I wish more people came here to help, and not just to do research” This is what the head of the Programa de Estudiantes con Discapacidad (PIESD) at Bienestar Universitario answered when we asked her for help to carry out our investigation on how the university responds to the mandates of inclusive education. PIESD is a program founded in 2010 whose goal is to facilitate the inclusion of students with disabilities by providing guidance, support and the necessary conditions of accessibility, participation and integral formation at UIS. But, what does this tell us about the place students with disabilities have at our university?
Our understanding of disability changed with the Constitución Política de Colombia (1991) that stated “illiteracy eradication and education of people with physical or mental disabilities, or with exceptional aptitudes, are a special obligation of the state” *1. This was followed by legislation that amplified and attempted to guarantee the rights of those born with physical or mental impairments. “Ley 115 de 1994, Decreto 1860 de 1994, Decreto 2082 of 1996, Ley 1618 de 2003, Ley 1346 and Ley 366 de 2009 (MEN, 2016), have been issued in order to address the responsibility educational institutions have to provide these learners with pedagogical, therapeutic, and technological support; also with qualified teachers, able to cope with their inclusion within the classroom community” (Vargas, Palomino & Zambrano, 2015) *2.
As teachers, we believe that it is a good thing that the government has made efforts to achieve these noble goals. However, we are intrigued by how this is actually implemented. Very little have we, future English teachers, been educated to respond to the needs of people with disabilities. In a classroom research project (Vargas et al, 2015), it was found that “most university ELT programs do not educate future teachers on inclusive education”. Also, it was discovered that “the lack of training in inclusion is due to time constraints and neglect of its paramount importance by study plans designers”. So, as UIS students we set ourselves to find out to what extent our university and campus is qualified to respond to these population. In our search, we met Valery and Sophie*3, UIS students with physical disabilities.
Valery is a girl with visual impairment who sees only through one eye and has a vision of only of 8%. She stated that it was difficult at the beginning to adapt herself to the campus since the place was too big for her. She also asserted that as her professors were not aware of her condition when she started her learning process, they didn’t know how to readjust their lessons to meet her needs. Besides, taking notes and reading the tiny letters of the material professors brought to their lessons represented a great challenge for her.
On the other hand, Sophie suffers from Lamellar Ichthyosis which she describes as the lack of sebaceous cells that do not allow her to sweat, instead, she assures that her body keeps all the warm inside and this makes her skin become really dry. However, she affirms that the process of adaptation at university has not been hard since her disease does not interfere with her learning process and that is why, she asserts that it has not been necessary for her professors to adapt their methodologies and approaches. Nevertheless, she has to walk long distances to reach the buildings in which she has classes and that makes her feel exhausted and be constantly exposed to the sun rays. Although, both have encountered great hindrances, it must be said that the PIESD program and its director have been able to provide the necessary assistance for them to thrive in our community.
Valery and Sophie have not been alone throughout this stage of their lives, they have fortunately counted on the support of the program PIESD that provides them with academic assistance and helps them ease the difficulties they may encounter in their learning process and adaption to university. The head of this initiative affirmed that part of her job is to call them once a month to know how it is going on. She asks them if they have encountered any difficulty or if they need some help, then she looks for the way to solve it. She asserts that the program mainly offers support from Social Work and Psychology professionals, medical evaluation and tutoring teachers guidance from the program PAMRA. On the other hand, when we asked her about other institutional initiatives for students with disabilities, she said that there are no official policies that back this project and also that there are other dependencies that work in favor of students with special needs like Vicerrectoría Académica among others. It is clear, that at a personal level, the university responds to these needs and tries to provide all the assistance required. However, it seems that these strategies could be much more comprehensive and integral. As things stand now, it looks like every unit in our campus does attempt to fulfill the law requirements in this respect but it also appears that they operate independently.
Our university is currently working on the fulfilment of the needs of students with disabilities as the Colombian law demands. Efforts from the different dependencies are successfully being done; however, it would be better to articulate their assistance and work together in the construction of an inclusive campus that responds to the needs of every member of UIS educational community.
*1. My own translation
*2. Vargas, J., Palomino, C., & Zambrano, G. (2015). Inclusive education in Colombian English teaching programs. Unpublished manuscript.
*3. Real names are protected.