Ms Ann Heelan:

I thank the committee for the opportunity to address it. I will not go into barriers which have been well documented elsewhere. Instead, I will offer three solutions to the difficulties that we see.

I do not know whether members are aware of it, but one in ten students in a lecture hall, faculty or classroom in higher education has a disability, with one in 20 receiving additional supports. The numbers are increasing year on year as students enter from second level, but there is a problem in that these supports are given on an add-on basis to disability support services. Given the increasing numbers and the fact that these resources are fixed, the system is at breaking point. Something has to change.

Objective 4 of the national access plan, that is, to mainstream equity of access to higher education, needs to be fully implemented. AHEAD promotes a model of universal design for learning, UDL, for the inclusion of a diversity of students, for example, those with disabilities, mature students and international students. Essentially, any student who learns differently. This model is based on an architectural one that stands back and examines the needs of the user before designing a process. We are asking curriculum designers and teachers to think of the variety of students who are sitting in their classrooms and to design their curricula and teaching processes to meet those students' learning needs in a mainstream environment. It is about trying at classroom and faculty levels to include as many students as possible without adding on extra supports.

We believe about 40% of those students could be accommodated correctly with flexible teaching.

The teaching and learning forum is a body that operates under the auspices of the Higher Education Authority, HEA. We would like the forum to be tasked with developing and promoting universal design for teachers.

Second, I would like to mention further education and training, FET and, in particular, the fact that 11% of school leavers with special educational needs go into further education and 4% of them go into higher education. Yet, in further education, those students have lower points. They are probably only within the 200 to 300 framed points. They have much more complex needs while mental health problems are on the increase. These students are going into an FET system, which is a good educational system but which has no systematic supports for students with disabilities. The only programme out of 26 that has additional funding is the post-leaving certificate, PLC, programme and that exists within the further education system. It is not an ideal situation and many students with disabilities do not get the supports they need in further education. We recommend that strategic funding be allocated to the further education sector in order that colleges can set up a systematic support and recognise what the reasonable accommodations of students are, and upskill teachers. Otherwise, those students will not be reasonably supported and the colleges will not meet their legal obligations under the UN Convention on Human Rights. Without that funding, those students will not be correctly supported.

Third, we would like State funding allocated to programmes for students with an intellectual disability in higher education. The world has greatly changed for students with an intellectual disability. It is recognised that they have the capacity to learn and join programmes at further and higher education levels. All levels of education must reflect the full diversity of the community. Students with an intellectual disability have the same rights as other students to have a choice of education provision. Currently, 11 higher education institutions provide programmes for students with an intellectual disability. However, the programmes are all funded by philanthropic sources. Basically, they are funded by rich people. We depend on such goodwill but that could change from day to day and is unsustainable. The students involved are reaching their potential and due to the learning that has taken place the change that they experience is huge. They are going on fully paid work placements with companies such EY, which is changing public perception about such students. We want the State to fund these programmes in order that these students can learn just like anyone else and reach their potential.