Abstract

Inclusive higher education is elusive for students with disabilities, especially in developing countries. The adoption and rapid ratification of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) provides, if applied as its drafters intended, a “whole of institution” framework for its realization (CRPD Committee, 2016). Myriad legal, attitudinal, physical, and communication-based barriers limit or exclude participation. The individual impact of such discrimination is clear and carries lifelong consequences. Equally endemic are the broad societal and pedagogical effects of this exclusion. To illustrate: preventing persons with disabilities from Teacher Education courses impacts inclusive education in primary and secondary education; barring people with disabilities from academic programs in the sciences stifles innovation in assistive technology, health, and rehabilitation; and limiting access to studying the humanities hampers the emergence of disability studies as a rightful discipline. This article presents a framework for inclusive higher education in developing countries as contemplated by the CRPD. In doing so, we draw on field work conducting the first assessment of the accessibility of Egyptian public higher education to students with disabilities. We outline lessons that can be learned and pitfalls to be avoided both in Egypt and indeed for other countries in the Global South.

Highlights

  • Students with disabilities face historic and deeply entrenched barriers relative to their non-disabled peers in accessing higher education at the university, graduate, or post-graduate level (Harpur & Stein, in press-a). This is true in the context of the developing world where the exclusion of these students is predicated on several factors including stigma, prior exclusion from primary and secondary education, social isolation, and resource constraints (Harpur & Stein, Social Inclusion, 2018, Volume 6, Issue 4, Pages 230–240 in press-b)

  • And deleteriously, precluding students with disabilities from advanced education dramatically increases their likelihood for experiencing poverty and their exclusion adds to the vast challenges experienced by persons with disabilities and their communities in the Global South (Heymann, Stein, & Moreno, 2014; Trani, Kett, Bakhshi, & Bailey, 2011)

  • The research project into the accessibility of students with disabilities to higher education in Egypt assessed, among other things, the needs of students currently enrolled in Egyptian public universities and technical colleges and the barriers they experienced

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Summary

Introduction

Students with disabilities face historic and deeply entrenched barriers relative to their non-disabled peers in accessing higher education at the university, graduate, or post-graduate level (Harpur & Stein, in press-a). There it affirmed that “it is the entire process of inclusive education that must be accessible, not just buildings, but all information and communication, including ambient or FM assistive systems, support services and reasonable accommodation in schools” (CRPD Committee, 2014) Accessibility as it is understood in Article 9 of the CRPD further reflects the notion that persons with different disabilities may require distinctive strategies and supports to enjoy equal opportunity via services offered by higher education institutions. Arising from Article 24 and General Comment No 4 is the notion of “quality inclusive education”, comprising those elements of education aligned with the CRPD’s international human rights law framework These include availability, accessibility (including non-discriminatory access and the provision of reasonable disability-related accommodations), acceptability, and adaptability, with the aim of full participation and inclusion, on an equal basis with others Throughout, we maintain that the CRPD framework, when properly applied in its entirety and complexity, offers a legal template for advancing an inclusive “whole of institution” approach to inclusive higher education

Research Methodology
Part I
Legal Barriers
Disability Data Collection Gaps
Part II
Pre-Higher Education Barriers
Attitudinal Barriers
Physical Environment and Transport Barriers
Course Material and Curricula Barriers
Examination Barriers
Online Environment Barriers
Part III
Dismantling Barriers in Pre-Higher Education
Tackling Disability Stigma
Creating Barrier-Free Infrastructure
Ensuring ICT Accessibility
Findings
Conclusion
Full Text
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