Page 11 - UWI Quality Circle FlipBook

The UWI Quality Policy:
What It Means For Persons With Disabilities
Senator Floyd Morris, PhD Director, UWI Centre for Disability Studies
T he University of the West Indies (UWI) is undoubtedly the premier tertiary institution in the Anglophone Caribbean. It has been providing quality education to different groups and individuals over the past seventy years. One such group that has benefitted from this first-class institution is
persons with disabilities (PWDs).
From the early 1960s, The UWI has been accepting PWDs and this trend has mushroomed to a point where students with disabilities (SWDs) are on all campuses. But this mushrooming of SWDs did not emerge just like that. It came about after PWDs were insistent that they had to get the best education in the region and The UWI was their preferred choice. The administration of The UWI responded by putting in place measures to facilitate their development. At Mona, for example, a special committee was established in the early 1990s to deal with issues relating to SWDs and to enhance their learning experience. Emanating from this special committee at UWI Mona was the Policy for SWDs that was adopted by Finance & General Purposes Committee (F&GPC) in 1995. The Policy expressed lucidly UWI Mona’s commitment to empowering and transforming the lives of PWDs. Since then, the other campuses of The UWI have established mechanisms to treat with the needs of SWDs.
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The inclusion of PWDs in the learning experience of UWI has yielded results as every year, since the 1990s, at least one SWD has graduated from the institution. Data are showing that over 100 SWDs graduated from UWI Mona since 2000. Some of these students have graduated at the top of their class with first-class honours. Others have moved on to complete their PhD at the institution. In fact, UWI Mona proudly boasts having the two SWDs to have graduated from The UWI with a PhD.
But more PWDs can become a part of the learning experience of UWI. Greater strategic focus is needed to ensure that the members of this vulnerable group be included in all aspects of UWI life. Consequently, we must move to do the following:
1. Update all our internal policies relating to PWDs;
2. Strategically move to make all the campuses more accessible to persons with physical disabilities;
3. Provide greater access to modern technologies for SWDs;
4. Train all staff members in how to relate to PWDs;
5. Provide courses to the general student population on how to relate to PWDs
6. Establish a mechanism to increase enrolment of SWDs at UWI.
It is my firm belief that if we can implement these six recommendations, we can significantly improve the quality service to members of the community of PWDs. We must always remember that disability respects no one. You can be able-bodied today and disabled tomorrow. So we must always plan and implement quality programmes and policies that are inclusive of these vulnerable individuals.