The Issue of Disabled Students in Thammasat University
In Thailand, people with disabilities, they are part of the national resources. There is a promotion for supporting disabled to improve the quality of life to be more convenient and to participate in social activities, like the ordinary people. This can be done by giving the people with disabilities to be protected by the housing development and rehabilitation. For instance, medical, social, educational and vocational training. There are benefits and protections for people with disabilities in order to eliminate unfair discrimination because of a physical condition or health. Including the disabled be entitled to the facilities, the public and other assistance from the state. As well as the state provides services to people with disabilities so that they can provide a better quality of life and self-reliant.
The center for disabled students of the Thammasat University has always been taken care provider facilities. The target group is students with disabilities. They are featured the hearing-impaired students who use hearing aids, student who are disabled or those who cannot move that can help themselves to do the other activities. In daily life, the blind students, who are considered by their physical and amenities, still not gets the facilities which are appropriately corresponded to what they want, but these things are not enough for their requirement, such as ground-ramp for wheelchair tracks damaged, no suitable dormitory for the disabled. Especially to the handicapped students who cannot move as they want, this causes them the difficult time to live in university because the room is too narrow. The bathrooms in the dormitory that quite different high level. This is dangerous to students with disabilities who use wheelchairs. There is no specific table in the cafeteria for disabled students. The ones who use power wheelchairs difficult to move around because the gap between tables and chairs are too narrow. Transport for the disabled such as NGV is not suit with people that have visual problem.
The people with disabilities do not have access to social services and they are unable to help themselves equal as a normal people. The importance of accessibility to services for people with disabilities so that they can live independently and have an environment that facilitates to them.
After surveying by using the questionnaires from social work research subject we found that there are more additional service requirements from disabled students. The center for disabled students of Thammasat University should provides more appropriate and sufficient equipments, improve and develop the services to meet the needs of students with disabilities. The center need to repair the area around the university for convenient of the movement. The commercial accommodation such as dormitory rooms that should suit people with limited mobility. For the medical services, the requirements for annual medical physicals are different. it’s necessary to provide an annual physical checkup by considering the physical characteristics. The center for disabled students should have organized recreational activities for disabled students. The university should take more care with personal safety of disabled students. The last thing is the university should provides more educational allowance for disabled students.
There are so many special benefits that Thammasat University provide for disabled students by considering the physical characteristics to those who needs. For students with physical disabilities, the center provides convenience for students. For example, the ramps in some area, toilets and elevator for disabled students in school building and library. The center provides facilities for students with disabilities to make their learning more effective. For visually impaired students, the center provides Braille books and audio books for them. Another facility equipments such as the digital IC recorder , expanded text program and images zoomtech. Equal access to education for student with disabilities is supported in Thammasat university. The disabled students in Thammasat university can access to services that was provided for them and they are able to help themselves equal as a normal students.