Department of Student Affairs Disability Service

Student Affairs: Disability Service

Department of Student Affairs Disability ServiceProgress Report November 2005

All documentation produced by the DU is available in enlarged text, audio, Braille and e-text on request

Vision

To maintain the high profile the Unit has achieved over the past years, and to ensure that the influence of the UCT Disability Unit (DU) is exercised in a responsible and intelligent manner, and in a manner which will enhance the reputation and standing of UCT and the DU both within UCT and at Universities and organisations world-wide.

To continue to gather all of the resources of the unit in developing a focused and well planned drive towards the establishment of a human rights culture at UCT with a special emphasis on disability.

To actively and vigorously maintain the role of the DU as a vibrant and inter-active entity within the University structure, providing advice and support both in terms of harnessing mainstream capabilities for the accommodation of people with disabilities, as well as providing specialist services where mainstreaming is not possible or inappropriate. It is the responsibility of the DU, in partnership with the University community, to establish synergies with all aspects of the University in order to provide the vital information and service flows which promote UCT's status as a Equal Opportunities World Class African University, but more importantly, which promotes the capability and awareness within UCT to provide academically deserving disabled people with the opportunity for a fair and equal educational / university experience.

Deliverables

To provide UCT with the knowledge base to react with sensitivity and insight to the need for accommodation of disability. To provide UCT with the necessary guidance in developing or establishing cost-effective infrastructure, which meets the needs of disabled staff and students. To ensure that this is done, to the greatest possible extent, through the harnessing of mainstream university facilities and activities, but where reasonable accommodation of disabled staff and students is not possible in the mainstream environment, to ensure that such reasonable accommodations as are deemed appropriate are provided for via DU specialist facilities and services.

In this way the DU is the sounding board, knowledge base and benchmark which deliver to the University the capacity to deal correctly and appropriately with disabled students, staff, prospective students, visiting academics and other visitors.

Cost

The cost of transforming the University experience for people with disabilities must be separated from the cost of developing and sustaining such accommodations and alterations. Accommodation of disability is appropriately a natural function of the mainstream administration of the University save for areas of accommodation where mainstream accommodation is not possible. Costs must therefore be distributed accordingly across university mainstream functions.

This having been said, however, there is a direct cost involved in achieving the level of transformation necessary, as well as instituting and maintaining those accommodations and services, which cannot be accommodated in the mainstream. These costs must be covered directly by the DU budget.

1. DIRECTOR’S REPORT

Introduction

The year 2005 has been a time of endings and beginnings. It has also been, like every year before it, a year of progress and achievements.

Let us reflect a little on what has changed in the Unit over the last year.

As from 4 November 2005 both the Disability Unit and the department under which it resorts (formerly the Department of Student Development and Services) has undergone an identity change. Henceforth we will be known as the Department of Student Affairs Disability Service. It goes without saying that we will work to ensure that such changes as there are likely to be will, if anything, enhance the quality of the service we provide to the university community in general and to students with disabilities in particular.

Farewell to the Director

It was with great regret and some trepidation that the staff heard that the Director, Mike Watermeyer, was leaving the Unit at the end of March 2005. He had been such a competent helmsman and had been the main mover in so much development within the Unit that the staff may have been forgiven for wondering “quo vadis.”

Mike duly left us at the end of March but has maintained a lively interest in the achievements and activities of the Unit. We wish him everything of the best in this and all other future endeavours.

It was fitting that the students using our text conversion facility arranged a special leaving function with Mike. He is after all the one who built up this Facility from very humble beginnings to the impressive facility it has become.

Picking up the mantle

I am Reinette Popplestone, a blind member of staff who has been working in the Unit since 2000 and I have been appointed in an acting capacity as Director of the Unit. The Department, under which the Disability Unit resorts, has been undergoing a realignment exercise, and as soon as this is finalised, the director’s post will be regularized.

A little about myself

I matriculated from the School for the Blind in Worcester and went on to train as a physiotherapist at the Royal National Institute for the BlindSchool of physiotherapy in London.

Having worked as a Physiotherapist for approximately a decade, I registered at UCT for a BA degree with languages as my major, obtaining in due course an honors degree in English and a Masters degree in Literary studies – essentially a comparative literature degree.

In 1991 I started on a more or less voluntary basis the Blind Students’ Reading Programme which in time grew into the impressive facility we now know as TCATS (Text Conversion and Assistive Technology Services).

I left in 1996 to take up an appointment in the field of Braille literacy and education of the blind but was happy to return to my alma mater as well as to the Unit with which I had had strong ties almost since its inception.

New premises

2005 also proved to be a bit of a challenge as we moved premises twice within three months, first into interim offices while we waited for ours to be vacated, and then finally into our very spacious and well-appointed new premises, in which we show every sign of being even more productive than before.

Some highlights

This year the vice-Chancellor Professor Njabulo Ndebele introduced a special series of seminars on transformation. He opened this series with a seminar on Disability and the curriculum, at which Mike Watermeyer, then director of the Unit, was the main speaker.

This coincided with the opening of an exhibition of paintings by Gabriel Clark-Brown, a disabled artist. This exhibition hung for several months in the foyer to the Senate Room in Bremner building, and elicited great interest and lively debate.

This event is of immense symbolic importance to our work. We spend a significant portion of our resources on awareness raising, lobbying and advocacy, and having issues around disability raised to the highest levels of debate within the university community is an important indicator of the progress we are making in mobilising the university community in respect of the work that we do.

How donor funding enabled us to enable others

A car for Ronald: who was the first student in a wheelchair to be admitted for the degree of MBChB. Ronald is now in his fourth year, having achieved excellent results. Although we now have an impressive transit service at UCT (more about that later), Ronald needs to be able to move independently to all the hospitals and other health care institutions where medical students receive training. A small automatic motor vehicle was purchased which was then modified to be driven with hand controls. We hope this will prove to be a major enabler for Ronald.

A Power Chair for Lucinda: who was promised by an organisation that they would make someone available to push her round campus once she was accepted at the University. Not surprisingly, said promise did not materialise, and we were able to purchase a power-driven chair for her, as she is not strong enough to push a manual chair for the long distances that getting around UCT campus requires.

A first for us - supporting two deaf students: We were very excited when we were approached jointly by Dr Marion Heap of the Department of Community Health at Groote Schuur and CHED (The Centre for Higher Education Development). Two deaf students were registering for The Diploma in Adult Education offered by CHED. We were proud to provide the funding for a sign interpreter to enable to access lectures and other study material. Unfortunately they both had to withdraw from the course on account of work and other personal pressures, but it was for us an important first step into a new field, and the groundwork is now laid to assist other deaf students wishing to study at UCT. Needless to say, this is a resource intensive activity and we will be heavily depending on the generosity of our loyal donors if we are to continue in this work.

Does the Unit make a difference?

We get many calls and letters thanking us for having gone the extra mile. I thought it worth sharing this one with all of those who have an interest in or support the work we do at the Disability Unit.

“ … I need to let you know what a difference it makes to know that I will be able to cope with the readings for the course. Today was the first day in a long while that I was able to wake up without a headache or some discomfort with one or other eye (even the blind one sometimes feels the strain

Knowing that the support is there makes me feel safer and more confident. The kindness shown by you and others is very good for me in other ways also. It helps me to break down some of the perceptions I have about how others relate to me. Ndiyabulela kakhulu; please express my thanks also to your secretary as well as the volunteers who are helping to make it possible for me to continue my studies.Have a good weekend …”

UCT Transformation

One of the 7 objectives outlined by the vice-chancellor for the University is the transformation of the staff and student profile. Disability is an important part of this project, and we have become increasingly aware that we need to take our rightful place with our two siblings, Race and Gender. It was therefore a wonderful opportunity to participate in a series of events, celebrating youth day and the sacrifices and victories of those who made our country the place it is today.

I am greatly indebted to my colleagues for their contributions to this report. What follows are the reports from various members of the Disability Unit staff, sharing with us the achievements in the areas of their specific responsibility.

2. PHYSICAL ACCESS IN 2005

Jammie Shuttle Bus
2005 saw the introduction of our exciting new Student and Staff Transport Service – colloquially known as the ‘Jammie Shuttle’. Our unit as been closely involved in the consultation process leading up to the implementation of the service, as well as in the operational management of the system to ensure full access for UCT staff and students with disabilities. The fleet has been modified to meet the needs of persons with a variety of disabilities and has proven very successful. A separate bus is included in the fleet to meet the needs of students and staff who cannot gain access to the buses via the stairs. The philosophical drawback of having a ‘special’ service rather than integrating all staff and students into the mainstream service (a decision taken due to cost factors) is offset by the flexibility inherent in having a more focussed service for students who use wheelchairs. This bus is able to pick students up directly outside their residences and take them to the door of the building they need to go to. It has been a very involved project to get this bus up and running and it lagged behind the main service by 6 months, but has proven to be very successful and marks UCT as unique in the transport services it offers to its staff and students with disabilities.

Electrical and Mechanical Engineering building
Over the years we have had a number of disabled students studying Electrical and Mechanical Engineering and have often needed to respond to crises of venue accessibility with ad hoc or temporary arrangements or with the shifting of venues. This year a project was initiated to address physical access in its entirety to this labyrinthine building. This includes access to two levels from terraced street levels as well as a new lift inside the building. It has proved complicated and has involved much creative input from all the role players. We were able to implement a few of the lower cost and more straightforward solutions this year. The project will roll over into next year when we will concentrate on the matter of the new lift for which we will need to seek funding in the region of R500 000, as an entire new lift shaft will need to be built.

City Morgue
Next year our Health Sciences student will be doing a forensics elective and an audit was done of all the areas he will be accessing in the course of this elective. The City Morgue was an unusual scene for our physical access auditor! The projects specifications have been detailed, funding obtained and the work will commence as soon as possible, to be completed in time for the academic year.

Hiddingh Campus
Access to the variety of theatres on Hiddingh campus where a portion of the Department of Performing & Creative Arts is situated, has been an issue for many years and an audit was carried out on Hiddingh campus this year. We are able to achieve excellent access at fairly low cost to two of the smaller theatres, and while the cost will be more significant for the larger theatre, there is ample space to implement our access solutions.

Baxter Theatre
The Unit assisted the management of the Baxter Theatre in the design of a new unisex accessible toilet facility. The Baxter should be commended for its continued commitment to accessibility both in terms of physical and attitudinal accommodations.

IIDMM
The Unit was involved from the early stages in the design of this impressive new facility which is the Institute for Infectious Diseases and Molecular Medicine on Health Sciences campus, completed during this year. It has proved to be a huge success. We are now looking at the best way to implement an access solution to the faculty offices of Health Sciences which were relocated as part of the changes occurring along with this new building and are now in an inaccessible space. The proposed lift which will achieve this access will cost in the region of R540 000, but is essential as we have a number of students studying in that faculty who are currently unable to access the faculty officer.

Kerb cut project
This is a project in conjunction with Properties and Services and, although it has been on the table for some time now, will roll into the New Year. We are finalising needs in terms of this project before it goes through the consultation and funding phase.

Fuller Hall
The need for appropriate residence facilities for female physically disabled students was highlighted last year and a large project, then, was to do an access audit to the various residences and suggest new accommodations. Last year a single room was renovated for accessibility in Carinus with proposals for further renovations detailed. This year those designs became urgent, with very short notice, when a student needed a room in Fuller Hall. Student Housing should be commended on their continued commitment to providing accessible accommodation. It has been a pleasure working with the maintenance team in housing.

New Woman’s Residence
UCT is building a new woman’s residence on middle campus, and, along with the plans detailed for extending the amount of accessible facilities in female residences we are closely involved in the design of this new building. It is always exciting to be involved in a project from the start, as it gives us much more scope to implement accessibility than when we become involved in alterations after the fact.

Residence Road – University Avenue Access
This is an ongoing project which does not have a final design yet. This year, along with a project manager from Properties and Services, we revisited this project from a new perspective due to the cost and other logistical difficulties associated with our standing plan. Our bold new idea is to look at achieving access straight up the Jameson Staircase using an outdoor chair lift, but this idea still needs much discussion.

Access up the Zigarat StaircaseSimilarly we are looking for funding (approximately R100 000 a piece) to install a series of 2 or 3 outdoor chair lifts up our ‘Zigarat’ Staircase. This will achieve independent access from University Avenue to the student food court and library and into the Steve Biko Students’ Union and would have the added (essential) benefit of providing a second point of access to the Disability Unit’s offices. The current access route relies on a lift which has had ongoing mechanical faults this year.

BG9 Stairs
We are at the design stage of achieving access to a series of seminar venues in our Beattie building which is largely used by the increasingly popular Film and Media Studies course.