Project Summary
Grantee	: Association of Persons with Visual Impairments in Education
Purpose	: Organizing university students with disabilities
Location	: Turkey
Grant Amount	: 152.118 TL
Project Partner	: METU Without Barriers
Period	: 13 July 2015 – 15 July 2016
Status	: Completed
Project Year	: 2015

Background

Students with disabilities cannot enjoy the opportunities of universities on the same level as their non-disabled peers. Disabled Student Units established in all universities do not function sufficiently and there is no such system where students with disabilities raise their demands and participate democratically.

Project Goals

• Workshops will be organized on rights-based struggle with the participation of university students with disabilities.
• After the workshops working groups will be organized to focus on specific problem areas.
• Applications to public institutions for receiving information and university evaluation surveys will be conducted to present the problems in the universities.
• Short videos about the problems faced by university students with disabilities will be prepared.
• Students will deliver their demands to universities, and the results will be shared with interested parties.

Project Results

• 27 university students with disabilities all around Turkey were selected to participate in the project.
• Participants attended workshops on disability rights and discriminatory practices in universities as well as how to fight with them.
• 6 working groups were formed after the workshop: Accessibility, academic life, social participation in universities, foreign language education, student communities in universities and open education. Working groups focused on different aspects of the problems faced by university students with disabilities.
• Data on accessibility of universities was gathered and analyzed by working groups and a report was prepared.
• In order to spot the light on the needs of university students with disabilities a short movie was prepared titled “Campus without Barriers.”

Testimonials

"I learned how to demand my rights. Seeing my friends’ courage scaled up my confidence, too."

Project Beneficiary

"My university’s library for people with visual impairments was equipped with old devices and did not meet our needs. With this project I took the initiative and forced them to change it."

Project Beneficiary