Accessibility Issues in University Environments: How Unicamp Faces the Challenge

Lucia Reily, Cepre - Unicamp and Puc-Campinas, Cepre/ FCM, Brazil

Elisabeth Gasparetto, Cepre-Unicamp, Cepre-Unicamp, Brazil

Deise Pupo, Main Library - Unicamp, Unicamp, Brazil

Silvia Carvalho, Cepre - Unicamp, Cepre Unicamp, Brazil

Rita Montilha, Cepre - Unicamp, Cepre/ FCM, Brazil

Besides environmental barriers, young people with disabilities have many other hurdles to overcome to get into public universities in Brazil, considered the best in the country. There is legislation on federal, state and municipal levels to guarantee the rights to entrance and accessibility (environmental as well as access to information and printed material). Often, however, what is established on paper is a far stretch from the reality faced by people with special needs in the university context. In this plenary panel, we intend to reflect with the audience about various issues regarding accessibility in the university environment (considering students as well as faculty members with disabilities).

The first hurdle is the entrance examination. Federal legislation establishes that people with disabilities have a right to adaptations fitted to their individual needs, such as sign language translation, transcription into Braille or large print, extra time to complete the exam, etc. Unicamp offers the services of specialists at CEPRE (Centro de Estudos e Pesquisas em Reabilitação Professor Dr. Gabriel Porto) who are responsible for tailoring the exams to answer the individual needs announced by the candidates. One of these professionals will talk about this experience, having accompanied this process over the last few years.

After the student is accepted, he will face a number of challenges, depending on conditions of the buildings where his classes are scheduled. In 2003, a committee from CEPRE was established to study the situation of the School of Medicine buildings and surrounding area. Looking at special needs in general (in the area of language and communication as well as physical space), the committee presented a series of recommendations. One year later, we analyze what was done to correct the problems that had been pointed out.

Traditionally at Unicamp, students with low vision and blindness, as a group have been the major beneficiaries of concern for accessibility to information and literature, even before the present level of technology was available. We describe rehabilitation services offered these students, as well as a rehabilitation project undertaken with a professor who acquired blindness during his professional career at Unicamp.

Besides their coursework, students need access to all the other university facilities, from the cafeteria to the Observatory, so as to have a full active cultural experience as university students. One important aspect of university life is learning to use the library. The Main Library's accessibility project is an on-going proposal at Unicamp. Besides striving for digital inclusion, this project, supported by specialists from CEPRE, offers a variety of services at the Resource Laboratory related to access to information and literature. Two professional will present this project, the first giving a broad view of the project in general and the other talking about the Resource Laboratory and services offered those who seek special support.

During this panel, our intention is to demonstrate the complexities that full accessibility entails in the public university environment. Statistical information on special needs in the campus community, adaptations of entrance examinations, rehabilitation and resource services for students and faculty, refurbishment and corrections of architectural and communication barriers, special projects for access to information: these are but a few of the strategies that must be engendered on various fronts if we are to have accessibility on campus.

Presenters

Lucia Reily, who is bilingual in English and Portuguese, specialized in physical disabilities, will coordinate this panel. She will begin with a brief review of the relevant legislation, so as to allow grounds for comparison for members of the audience who are unfamiliar with Brazilian standards. This will include a review of laws on accessibility in schools and public environments, as well as laws about rehabilitation and rights for workers who acquire disabilities. As member of the committee that investigated accessibility barriers of the School of Medicine buildings at Unicamp, she will present these findings and the corrections accomplished by the administration after one year.

Elisabeth Gasparetto, special education teacher in the field of low vision, will present Unicamp's history of accessibility to the Entrance Examinations, and data on incidence of disability among students and professors on campus.

Rita Montilha, occupational therapist, is specialized in visual impairment, and has been directly involved in rehabilitation and relearning to live after loss of vision. Her experience has led her to work with university students as well as faculty members, and she will talk about this experience.

Silvia Carvalho is a special education teacher whose background is in the field of blindness and low vision. She teaches Braille, Sorobã and uses computer technology with people with visual disabilities. She supervises the Resource Laboratory at the Main University Library at Unicamp, and will be speaking about this service on campus.

Deise Pupo is the librarian who idealized the accessibility project for the Main University Library at Unicamp, an active advocate of accessibility in every possible domain.

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