Universal accessibility in Bolivian Higher Education: Training and counselling within the physical, virtual and social environments of the Gabriel René Moreno University (UAGRM)
Description
Although various actions have been taken to guarantee access to university for vulnerable groups of students coming from rural areas, there is a lack of policies aiming at students with special educational needs and/or disability. Inclusive education is a challenge for University in Bolivia, so this project aims at identifying the barriers (physical, virtual and social) that hinder the integration of people with disabilities in university. The project was carried out at the Gabriel René Moreno University, in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, the largest public university in Bolivia. The project had a duration of 18 months.
General target. Identifying the barriers (social, physical and virtual) that hinder the equal integration of people with disabilities in university<br />
Specific target 1. To detect the stereotypes that affect people with disabilities in the context of higher education<br />
Specific target 2. To identify the physical and virtual barriers of the university environment and suggest improvement actions<br />
Specific target 3. To assess and provide counselling to promote appropriate attention to students with disabilities at University<br />
Specific target 4. To raise awareness and train educational, social, and political stakeholders
Actions to identify physical and virtual barriers
Activity 1. Creating the UAGRM Accessibility Plan. Carrying out the Diagnosis of physical and virtual barriers in the UAGRM environment and suggest improvement actions.
Actions to identify social barriers and promote inclusive education
Activity 2. Training and awareness actions. Organizing the 1st International Conference on Disability in Bolivian Higher Education.
Activity 3. Creating the Scale of Stereotypes regarding people with disabilities at university. Designing and validating the Scale of Stereotypes and prejudices towards people with disabilities in the university context. Pilot design, scale management, experts’ opinions, use of data and final wording.
Activity 4. Creating a protocol of attention to people with special educational needs at the UAGRM. Carrying out the diagnosis of the situation, interviewing key informants, drawing up the report, media diffusion.
- Empowerment of Students with Disabilities at the UAGRM and the body by which they are represented, the ‘University Committee of Students with Disabilities’
- Raising awareness among academic authorities regarding the situation. The university authorities of the UAGRM and the UCB participated in the Conference and held meetings with the research team.
- Improvement of training programmes and awareness regarding accessibility and inclusive education. 100 participants took part in training activities (students, associations, NGOs and other social and teaching agents involved)
- Increased interest in involved actors. (I.e. Many participants decided to pursue Master studies and training programmes related to attention to disability)
- Creating a valid and updated tool that is adapted to the context of Lain America, which can measure stereotypes in education regarding people with disabilities. Pilot stage: 100 participants. Experts’ opinion: 4 participants. Final stage: 821 participants.
- Creating a protocol of attention to people with disabilities in education. Designing two focus groups including key informants. One formed by members of the education community (8 participants) and another one by professionals of intervention with people with disabilities (8 participants). The information obtained is used as a qualitative diagnosis through which the protocol is designed, as well as with experts in this field.
- Carrying out an Accessibility Plan in the UAGRM with an extension of 616 pages, in which detailed information was gathered regarding the following elements: Part 1. Introduction. Part 2. Public spaces. Part 3. Buildings. Part 4. Transport and communications. Part 5. Management and Development of the plan. Annex 1. Web Accessibility. Annex 2. Applicable legislation. Annex 3. Architectural plans of critical points. Annex 4. General architectural plans.
Some of the obstacles that arose when implementing the project were: Achieving full and real implication of authorities (we are still working on this matter with the media diffusion). Guaranteeing that people responsible for gathering data in Bolivia did so meticulously and that such data allowed to validate the Attitude Scale.
The actions taken by the project are reproducible at Universities and Education Institutions in countries with medium or low HDI. These actions can be implemented autonomously, by universities itselves, or with support from another university or institution as it happened in the example we are providing.
The project’s actions were highly successful. The Committee of Students with Disabilities from the UAGRM (formed by UAGRM students with disabilities), the organizations working for the rights of people with disabilities and the teachers involved agree on the positive visibility that was given to the matter in Bolivia. All of them recognise feeling empowered by the abovementioned actions.<br />
Furthermore, research and diagnosis actions allowed to obtain a clear view of the specific needs and propose change actions. The media diffusion is helping to show the difficulties people with disabilities in Bolivia experience to access university. It is particularly relevant to show which are the existing social obstacles, that is to say, the stereotypes towards people with disabilities, their capabilities, possibilities and so forth, since these stereotypes hinder them to be equally considered. The creation of the attitude scale brings great progress to the study of disability at a theoretical and practical level. It is the first valid scale carried out in Latin America regarding this matter. There is no other scale that can measure stereotypes towards people with disabilities in the university context.<br />
Training actions also helped to activate this matter in Bolivia, and subsequent actions issued from joint efforts have also taken place. For example, we held the 2nd International week “An inclusive university, implementing strategies for inclusive education at the UAGRM”, a training course entitled Creating Inclusive Spaces in Higher Education within the Catholic University of Bolivia (project partner) and the enrolment of students with and without disabilities coming from Bolivia in the Master in Accessibility for Smart City, which is provided by the Once Foundation and the University of Jaen.<br />
The project is prominently interdisciplinary and delocalised, and it is composed of a varied group with team members coming from Spain and Bolivia who are trained in the following areas: architecture, health, social work, law and psychology. This approach enabled us to carry out ideal diagnosis, research and training actions in order to boost and guide changes towards inclusive education and accessibility in the UAGRM campus. These actions are applicable to other contexts with similar features, meaning that the pilot experience offers opportunities to replicate this project in countries with medium or low HDI.
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Virginia Fuentes Gutiérrez, Doctora