Disability Strategy creating a voice for priority learners in vocational education

MIT and Unitec are currently collaborating on a Disability Strategy project which aims to enhance inclusion and reduce barriers for disabled learners at both institutes.

MIT Disability Services and the Unitec Access4Success Disability Service are jointly supporting this mahi, as part of a wider project team. A Learner Expert Panel has been created to help drive the change.

Diploma in Civil Engineering student Bradley Clarke is on the MIT panel – he has autism spectrum disorder and often feels like he is at a disadvantage when it comes to time in the classroom. He’s looking forward to contributing to the strategy alongside the other student panel members.

“My disorder means that I excel at some things, but in some other parts I have a really bad disadvantage,” says Bradley. “When it comes to doing math or art, I'm brilliant at it, but when it comes to English subjects or report writing, it's where I start to fall off.”

The Disability Support Team was able to assess Bradley’s requirements and offer him extra support in the form of a writer for exams.

“At the end of the day, we want to see these students feel as if they have the same learning outcomes as anyone else,” says Bradley. “I think it's great that MIT and Unitec are leading the efforts to push for this strategy to move forward. It sets a precedent for other Institutes to follow.”

Bachelor of Social Practice student Louise Willett is on the Unitec Expert Student Panel and echoes Bradley’s thoughts on the strategy. Louise has cerebral palsy and feels the disability community has always been in the background.

“We are the silent community,” says Louise. “It’s time for our voices to be heard.”

An analysis of the 2013 Disability Survey by Ministry of Education showed disabled students were about 1.3 times as likely to have no post-school qualification and half as likely to have a bachelors degree or higher.

The development of the strategy is underway and aligns with transition to Te Pūkenga on January 1, 2023.

Team Leader for MIT Disability Services (Tautoko Hauā) Sabrina Sharma-Pillay says that there are 381 current students at MIT who identify as having a disability. She believes that the strategy is a great opportunity for positive change, as students with disabilities are counted as one of the top priority groups that technical institutes are seeking to support in pursuit of equitable outcomes.

“We want to ensure that the students at both MIT and Unitec feel they are studying in a safe and inclusive environment, but also help enable them to succeed in whatever programmes they choose to study,” says Sabrina. “This is a great opportunity for us to be building on.”

Both MIT and Unitec disability services offer students and staff a series of support options, including note-taking, New Zealand sign language interpreting, access coordinator support, alternative exam arrangements assistive technology such as digital recorders and notetaking software, as well as advocacy.

Team Lead for Acccess4Success disability services at Unitec Donna Cavell explains a key goal in the strategy will be communicating to students who choose not to take advantage of these services because of past experiences of discrimination due to their disability. 

“Roughly 15 per cent of students aged between 16 and 39 will identify as having a disability, and of course not all students with a disability choose to reach out for our services. But we would like to create an environment where students and staff feel safe declaring that they have a disability,” says Donna. “We don't necessarily have a clear understanding of why students don't declare, but we suspect that because of the stigma that's attached to disability that they don't feel comfortable doing that.”

She explains many students and staff who use disability services have experienced discrimination in the past, which makes it all the more challenging to speak up and say, “I have an impairment, I have a disability I have a long-term health issue that's going to impact on my learning and I require support.”

“Ultimately, we want students to feel safe and comfortable saying that they are in an environment where they can actually stand up and approach their lecturer comfortably and say, ‘I have dyslexia’, ‘I have autism’, or ‘I have a long-term health condition, that is, I’m going to face some barriers in my learning’.”

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