10.6.9 Does your university as a body provide access schemes for people with disabilities?

The Counseling Directorate

The counseling directorate provides mentoring and support services to students with disabilities/Special Needs, supporting their social, emotional and overall academic needs. Further they are responsible for ensuring (with recommendations from SNAC) that relevant faculty and staff are made aware of the student need and accommodations, while encouraging inclusion and confidentiality. Faculty and staff are also provided with an informative session on ideal means to work with students with special needs. Students with special needs are also surveyed in order to provide feedback on means to enhance support services.

Special Needs Facilitations

Special needs fellows are being looked after in Ahlia University throughout preparing the necessary requirement to make them more comfortable during their presence in the Campus’[1].

Such as:

’         Special accesses

’         Lifts

’         Special car parks

’         Allocated toilets

’         Elevators

’         As well as special and recommended care are being provided from the security guards to them.

’         An assigned area to serve their electrical wheel chairs.

Figure 1. Special needs facilitations, taken from [1]

Supporting students with special needs

Students with special needs are given support and guidance by Ahlia University faculty and staff, Directorate of Student Counseling, and Directorate of Student Activities and Services. Further, a special needs committee was created to specifically look after the welfare of the students with special needs.

’

The student, after having been provisionally admitted to the University, will be interviewed by the special needs admission committee (SNAC). If the Committee, by majority vote, determines that the University can accommodate the kind of disability or special need with which the student is encumbered, the student will be granted admission to the University. Thus, making it possible for the student to avail of all the privileges/benefits conferred to disabled students and students with special needs as contained herein’[2].

Figure 2. Policy for supponting students with special needs, taken from [2]

Modifications on policy for supporting students with special needs

Figure 3. Modifications on policy for supporting students with special needs, taken from [3]

Employing the E-Learning Environment to Support People with Special Needs During the Challenges of the Coronavirus Pandemic

https://www.facebook.com/ahliauniversitybh/posts/1076227612760846

Organized by the Professional Development Unit and the College of Business Administration, a lecture was held (Employing the E-Learning Environment to Support People with Special Needs During the Challenges of the Coronavirus Pandemic) by Dr. Osama Al Mahdi, Assistant Professor at the Bahrain Teachers College, via the application (Ms. Teams) [4]

As the lecture dealt with the concept of special needs and distance education. In addition, examples of applications of the e-learning environment for special needs and open university courses to support continuous distance education were reviewed.

Ahlia University policy allows equal access to different mentoring programs, along with support for students with disabilities - special needs supporting their social, emotional and academic needs.

The direction of counselgeria ensures that teachers and staff are aware of the needs and adaptations of students by promoting inclusion and confidentiality (based on the recommendations of SNAC) staff and faculty host an information session on the means to work with Special students, in turn, are recruited to improve support services.

The Admission Process for Persons with Disabilities at Ahlia University Disability collaborates with students with disabilities to ensure equal access to all programs through a fair admissions process that determines a candidate's eligibility based on their chances of completing the undergraduate or degree process. The admissions process at Ahlia University is non-discriminatory. Ahlia university works with the students with disabilities to create an accessible and supportive environment, securing the necessary accommodations from academic departments and, if needed, other offices. Academic accommodations are provided to students with disabilities by their individual professors within the academic departments. Accommodations will be considered reasonable when they do not fundamentally alter the nature of a program, course, or service or present an undue administrative burden on the University. Students requesting accommodations are required to submit documentation to verify eligibility.