The Education Sector (both schooling and higher education) has been turned upside down with the pandemic running amok in the world. At the very least, students are in attendance online and teachers and professors trying to cope with lesson plans, screen shares and vocal lectures via zoom or any other platform all at the same time when they are used to a certain black/white board and chalk/pens to write.
In all of this, we forget to address one segment of the population – persons with disabilities (PwDs) – and for the education industry this translates into revenue loss. I have seen PwDs struggle to come to a classroom environment but have better coordinated learning online; they are an ignored potential paying set of customers for the education industry. Yet we do not see small tweaks in our online classes to address this segment. The Blended Learning model is one of the best options that can be offered to PwDs to learn and grow and in turn the educational institution earns from another set of paying customers.
For example, a deaf student is in the class. And since we are running online classes, the student is online, registering the attendance but can they listen and understand the lecture? If I am on Zoom I can simply put on the closed captions and viola, the student sees the subtitles at the bottom of the image and reads. It really is a simple remedy. Similarly, a blind student can be given printouts of notes on Braille to ease following the lecture. Or send out the notes on email to the person a day before. Most of the blind students have a screen reader installed on the phones and their computers. I use voice recognition myself when I have trouble with my hands, easing my work to a large extent. Ramps on campus will help everyone, students and staff alike be they wheelchair users or not. Accessibility is not just for people with disabilities, it is for every one of us. We are not using Universal Design, both for Accessibility and Learning, to leverage the service or product we provide. That is one skill we all need to acquire. Knowing that small tweaks help, institutions across the country need
1. Assessment of the curriculum / content for accessibility on priority
2. Teachers / content creators and parents to be trained in methods to create and use accessible content
3. Audit of the IT infrastructure for accessibility
4. Audit of the built environment / physical spaces for accessibility
The built environment audit will throw up a few structural changes but that will be an added asset. Of course, the accessible built environment can be utilized further and be a source of revenue generation if it is used as a vocational training center for PwDs after hours. This can be run through an NGO working in the field. Per the last census we had 2.68 crores of PwD, out of which almost 80% are illiterate due to not having accessibility to schools or right curriculum / content or both. Today that number is closer to 3 crores. And as of now, we are failing to tap this invisible but potentially paying customer base.
When we look at the NIRF/NAAC ratings that all higher educational institutions are required to maintain, we see a direct connect with the above assessments and audits. These help in setting up better standards and ratings for the institutions. Vardaan4u is in the disability sector and our work includes the assessment and audits too.
A couple of links on the field of how education can be made accessible and how small accommodation and modifications can be made to set up inclusive class rooms are shared below: · Reimagining Disability & Inclusive Education: https://youtu.be/CtRY_1mZWWg
· Accommodations and Modifications for Students with Disabilities: https://youtu.be/O0xdaCEqrU0