Just two out of 14 ITs have a disability officer

A survey of 14 institutes of technology has found that just two institutes employ a disability officer and that in nine institutes the faculty buildings are not accessible to disabled students. By Emma Browne

A survey of 14 institutes of technology across Ireland, who cater for 1,366 undergraduates with disabilities, was carried out by AHEAD – the Association for Higher Education Access and Disability in 2005.

The survey found that just two institutes of technology employ a disability officer and that the faculty buildings of nine of the colleges surveyed were not accessible to students with disabilities. It also found that only six of the institutes have conducted an access audit on their institutes and 12 of them have no on-site accommodation for students with disabilities.

Most of the institutes have disability awareness training for all their staff. However, participation is very low as it is voluntary.

Eleven of the institutes have an access officer to deal with disabled students but these officers are also responsible for mature students and students from disadvantaged backgrounds. The officers said that they gave 40 per cent of their time to disabled students.

Just four of the institutes give full consideration to students with disability in future planning and six institutes said that they would only give this a 25-per-cent level of consideration in the future planning of their institutes.

Olwyn Enright, Fine Gael spokesperson on education and science, welcomed the survey and said, “A wide range of areas need improvement. While the number of students with disabilities has increased 300 per cent over the past five years, improvements within the ITs have not kept pace and a change of mind-set is needed.”

Emma Browne