The University of the West Indies (UWI) has a longstanding reputation for providing an accessible campus for students who have a disability. We have been providing outstanding services for these persons since the early 1990s. On November 22, 1995, the Finance and General Purposes Committee (F&GPC) adopted a special policy relating to students with disabilities at UWI Mona.
“STATEMENT OF INTENT WITH RESPECT TO STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES
The University of the West Indies [hereafter UWI] is consciously seeking to facilitate the efforts of persons with disabilities to acquire university education.
The university’s goal is that as far as possible the number of students with disabilities at the institution be increasingly brought in line with the number of disabled persons in the relevant age cohorts in the wider society. It is the aim that no student whose academic qualifications are good enough to qualify for competitive entry be unable to accept a place at the UWI because of a disability.
It is recognized that some programmes may have requirements that not every student may meet or may require special preparation to accommodate some students. Students are therefore advised to take this into account when choosing a particular programme for study.
The UWI is constantly striving to acquire the latest technologies and seeks to sensitize its staff and students with a view to breaking down the barriers to achievement on the part of students with disabilities.
In this regard, the disabled student has a major role to play in bringing any problem area/s to the attention of the UWI and co-operating in finding solutions. Like all others, students with disabilities have the ultimate responsibility for their academic progress.
The UWI on its part seeks to constantly widen the types of assistance that are available to facilitate the studies of disabled students and to ensure that information on these facilities is available to students and staff alike.”
This policy set the stage for the overall improvement of service delivery to students with disabilities on the Mona campus. This includes:
- Establishing a special facility to give support to all students with special needs.
- Progressively improving the physical access to buildings on the campus to make them more accessible to students with disabilities.
- Creating a special team of volunteers to give support to students with disabilities.
- In addition, students can learn to use various types of assistive technology to help in their education.
- Individual counselling, support groups and/or consultation are available to all University of the West Indies students with disabilities.