Benefits of integration go both ways

ADULT STUDENTS with intellectual disabilities are studying alongside high points university students in a new type of course at Trinity College Dublin.

The two year "Interact" pilot programme in the college's occupational therapy department started last October. One of the aims of the course is to integrate adults with moderate intellectual disabilities into mainstream certified vocational education.

There are 40 students on the pilot programme, in which 30 first year occupational therapy students from Trinity participate in classes with 10 adult students with intellectual disabilities.

The students from TCD are sharing classes in communications, personal effectiveness and art, craft and design with the students from Dunmore House, a St John of God service in Glenageary, Co Dublin, which provides training and employment opportunities for adults with intellectual disabilities. These classes form the three core modules of the programme, which has been set up through the National Council for Vocational Awards (NCVA).

The students are also integrated in sport and fitness activities. As well as the core modules, the students from Dunmore House have a choice of six elective subjects from a long list which includes computers, childcare, work orientation and arts, craft and design. Those who successfully complete the two year course hope to graduate with a national foundation certificate from the NCVA.

Gerard Keane, co ordinator of training at Dunmore House, points out the importance for his students of being able to tap into a mainstream certification system. "The NCVA is very important and certification is very important, but there's a social and an educational component as well which we would think is important in pursuance of inclusive education. This increases the trend for the provision of education for people with learning disabilities." Siobhan MacCobb, of the school of occupational therapy in TCD, says that the college's first year occupational therapy students have matured and learned a great deal by participating in the course.

"People with high points, in particular, have worked awfully hard," she says. "They value intelligence, competition and success.

Intelligence is part of their value system." However, later in their careers as professionals, she says, they will have to understand and respect the fact that "the people they work with will never succeed in mainstream traditional ways".

The changes brought about by the pilot course have been "profound", she says. First year occupational therapy students have become less inhibited and have reevaluated their reasons for learning.

"I think now they could talk and listen to anybody and they are not shy. They are now aware of all these other talents. It's given them a sense of being confident with themselves and with others and they've seen beyond labels." The 10 Dunmore House students who are attending TCD as a result of this "fruitful partnership" have also developed in the past few months.

"The role of these students within their own families has changed," Keane says. Parents are pleasantly surprised. The students are much more vocal, they are looking to play a much more positive part; at the same time they are challenging for their right to express themselves and to have more control over their own lives.

"That would be part of the aim of the project," he says. "They seem to have tapped into a new way of looking at the world." Keane says the work experience element is one of the most challenging aspects of the course. Students have to make their own way to and from their place of work one, Desmond Fitzgerald, has to travel from Blackrock to Heuston Station every Tuesday to work in the buffet car on the Cork Dublin train.

Another student, Julie Connolly from Ballybrack, Dublin, is working at the creche in St Stephen's Green Centre. "Yes, I like it," she nods enthusiastically.

Paul Sweeney, from Stillorgan, Co Dublin, will start in Virgin Megastore this week. He will be working in the packing area and is looking forward to it, he says, because he loves music, especially from the 1960s.

Cathy O'Donohoe, administration manager at Dunmore House, says "the students' confidence has really soared. They have become far more independent. They have been stretched. The whole class seems to gel very well." "We haven't set a date for graduation yet," Keane says. "It will depend on how people are doing and how long it takes. They are learning at their own pace and would have different strengths and abilities." In the meantime, both sets of students are enjoying and benefiting from the new course. As NCVA student Ann Edwards says: "I like a lot of things. I like learning new things all the time."