Since 2003, Thammasat University has launched an admission program form students with disabilities, and two years later, the Disabled Student Services Thammasat University (DSS). Duty of DSS is to support students with disabilities in every way possible. The center is responsible for guidance counseling, student’s preparation, dormitory arrangement, and even implementing universal design in the university.
The guidance counseling session was not only given to TU students but also high school students with disabilities in order to promote the admission program. The center also facilitates high-school students with disability on the day of the examination to ensure that all of them have equal opportunities in the admission process.
Once the students are admitted, the center also hosts a meeting to prepare the newly admitted students with disability for the university education and living. Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, the DSS center provided the preparation session online for the students with disabilities. Moreover, the DSS also provides relevant trainings for the students, for example, a training on Microsoft Office for students with vision impairment.
Regarding accommodation, every students with disabilities who wants to stay in the campus will be arranged into the dormitory without any exception. Buddy or volunteer staff (by request) as well as assistive devices matching with their disabilities will be allocated to them.
Instructional materials for courses they take will be provided in the forms that match with their types of disabilities, e.g. braille instructional materials for students with vision impairment, audiobooks for those with hearing impairment. Regarding examinations, the service center is responsible for making examination materials ready and suitable with the students’ disabilities.
DSS center also push forward the implementation of universal design in buildings in the university to ensure the accessibility of people with disabilities to the university’s building and infrastructure. Starting with the left-over from budget for devices and equipment, the center have implemented over 20 universal design projects.
In addition to the DSS efforts, Faculty of Engineering also innovates “Plug & Go Wheelchair”, an innovation for people with disabilities and senior citizens. This innovation won 2 awards from the competition on innovation for disabled and senior people.
Please see more details of the service and related documents here:
https://thisable.me/content/2020/03/602
Thammasat for SDGs 