Friday 14 August 2009

Inclusion of Disability in University Training Courses

You download the full publication by AIFO/Italy and Disabled Peoples International (Italy) on a training module to mainstream disability in graduate and post graduate level university courses (PDF format, 800 KB). This document was published in 2008 under the IDDC joint project on "Mainstreaming Disability" co-funded by European Commission.

Here is a brief extract from the introduction to this document:

Centuries of segregation and exclusion have impoverished persons with disabilities who face obstacles and prejudices in all aspects of life and communication; at the same time, society itself lost out in terms of its knowledge of and abilities regarding persons with disabilities, impoverishing itself in its solutions and support modalities towards the full participation of its members in community life. The role of education in the disability field becomes key in building inclusive and participative societies in which everyone can express themselves and exchange capacities and competencies and to build fruitful relationships.

This cultural transformation of the condition of persons with disabilities as been elaborated upon quite rapidly; from 1971 when the UN approved the first resolution on persons with mental retardation to 2006 when the Convention was approved, only 35 years have passed! In many ways, this transformation did not reach the academic world, and so there has arisen the need to develop training modules to introduce the new vision of persons with disabilities in university trainings.


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