Threat to university course for people with intellectual disabilities

“I was upset at first – from happiness. I was proud when I heard I was coming.”

Such was the response of one participant in a pioneering university course for students with intellectual disabilities which now faces an uncertain future due to funding difficulties.

The "Going to College" initiative was established at NUI Galway as a pilot project, and offered six places to students with intellectual disabilities from September 2011. Some 48 students applied.

The six students were invited to study particular subjects that they were interested in, and were provided individual support for participation in mainstream classes.

They paid €500 per head a year and attended two full days weekly.The project was modelled on inclusive initiatives at the University of Calgary and the Alberta Association of Community Living in Canada.

Alternative

Peggy Ryan from Loughrea, Co

Galway

, whose daughter Marian had participated in mainstream education at primary and secondary level, explained that it offered an alternative to workshop training.

“Up until then, universities here were providing places for those with physical, but not intellectual, disability,”she said.

The exception was Trinity College, Dublin, which began offering students with intellectual disabilities places on its two-year certificate in contemporary living in 2006.

The NUIG students were assigned individual academic mentors to provide guidance and nurture inclusiveness.

More than 50 academic staff provided places in their classes in sciences, engineering, human rights, Irish and Celtic civilisation, Italian, marketing, sociological and political science, theatre and performance.

Encouraged to participate

The students were encouraged to participate in the university’s volunteering programme, and to join college clubs and societies. They also completed a work placement.

An evaluation of the course noted that participating students reported a greater sense of health and wellbeing and increased independence.

It recommended that the model of inclusion should continue to be promoted by the university, and said consideration should be given to admitting a smaller number of students on an annual basis to ensure a “rolling cohort” on campus.

The students graduated with their mainstream peers this autumn, and several have continued in work placements. Marian Ryan is on work placement in a hotel in Loughrea.

The National Federation of Voluntary Bodies and the voluntary organisations had indicated their commitment to continuing support for the initiative through HSE funding.

However, in July the academic sponsors wrote to the partners and said the university’s “priorities sub-committee” had decided “not to recommend funding for the initiative”.

“Parents are very anxious that the momentum, the learning, the success and the benefits of this would continue,”Ms Ryan said.

“In three years, Marian’s life totally changed as she was participating with her peers, and there are many students who would benefit similarly from this experience.”