APPEAR in practice_10: The art of achieving inclusive education; best practice examples from Ethiopian and Austrian universities.
23rd of October, 6:00 - 9:00 pm, OeAD house
While the need to mainstream disability in development has been on the United Nations agenda for more than 25 years, activities to address barriers to inclusion have often taken place in a compartmentalized and limited manner. With the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) in 2006 and the commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015 inclusion has gained increasing international attention. Nevertheless, in practice capacity building measures to support inclusive development in (higher) education and community programmes have only been adapted to a very limited and unsystematic extent. Specific countries still face a number of barriers and challenges in implementing inclusive education at different levels in its education system. Inclusive education at HEIs has been found to be a big challenge in certain countries due to negative attitudes, lack of awareness, misutilization and lack of resources, absence of guidelines and missing accountability of university staff, teachers and school principals. To what extent do these challenges in inclusive education hold true for both Ethiopian and Austrian (higher) education?
In this event one researcher from Ethiopia and one from Austria, who have been collaborating for more than one year, as well as one representative of “Team Barrierefrei” of the University of Vienna - a counselling section for students with disabilities, impairments, acute and/or chronic illnesses as well as for students facing psychological factors or autistic perception and so on - will talk about best practice examples from their universities. They will give insight into their experiences regarding what is offered at universities, what works and what can be improved, as well as about differences and similarities in legal and administrative frameworks.
The location is barrier-free. In case you need a sign language interpreter please inform us by the 19th of October at the latest.
Panellists:
Ababu Teshome Ayalew (Dilla University / Ethiopia). He is lecturer and coordinator of the Centre of Learners with Special Needs Education at Dilla University (DU). As a INEDIS project team leader he is coordinating research on inclusive community development and the CBID post-graduate program at DU. His research focusses on inclusive education for students with special needs, community-based Rehabilitation, education of children with visual impairment, HIV/AIDS and disability, and disability and society.
Michelle Proyer (University of Vienna). She currently holds a position as Tenure Track professor at the Center of Teacher Education and Department of Education at the University of Vienna, Austria. Her research interest focus on the intersection of disability and culture.
Tim Brunöhler (University of Vienna). He is the University of Vienna's disability officer for students. Together with his colleagues he forms the "Team Barrierefrei"
Facilitator: Stella Asiimwe, journalist
Discussion followed by drinks & snacks.