Disabled students follow their dream

Disabled students follow their dream: going to university

Jeerapan Choudklang, a 25yearold junior student at Thammasat University (TU)'s Faculty of Social Administration admitted her handicap could stop her from studying.

"Although it's very difficult to study in the same class with others who are not disabled, I need to study the same information and take the same tests as them, but I cannot read or write as fast as them."

She said she had to write on papers when doing homework when she was a freshman. "It was hard for me. I couldn't write fast, but I tried until finishing my homework."

However, during her second and third years of study, Jeerapan has mostly been assigned to do group projects with other classmates, which helped ease the amount of writing she had to do. But she has been delighted to work away from home and meet local people in communities. It has helped her understand how other people think.

Another concern is that she needs to be very careful when crossing a road in the university's Rangsit campus because she cannot clearly see objects far from her.

"I have to overcome many difficulties, but hitech tools and my friends' kind assistance have made studying here more easy.

"My MP3 recorder helps me to review the studied lessons by allowing me to hear recordings of the lecturers teaching in class. Some of my friends read the content of textbooks to me. After class I also use computers equipped with software adapted for people with low vision, like me, which makes it easier for me to read from the computer monitor.

"I also use a machine able to zoom in and out of text on pages. The equipment is provided at the university's Disabled Student Services (DSS) centre," Jeerapan said.

Poom Thangmanotham, 22, a senior student at TU's Faculty of Journalism and Mass Communication, who suffers the same handicap as Jeerapan, said he also couldn't read fast but that hadn't discouraged him.

"I have to read word by word, but with support from the DSS centre I have audio books and several tools to help my reading - for instance a compact handheld video magnifier that helps me when the text is too small to see and read.

"It's much more convenient for me compared to studying in primary and secondary levels, when I had only a small hand glass."

Poom hopes that after graduation he'll get a good job in a field related to what he has studied - organisational communication.

Jeerapan, meanwhile, dreams of working for the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef). "I want to help other handicapped children to gain access to facilities and better educational opportunities. My disability will probably help me understand them more than other normal people. They could also learn from my experience.

"And if possible, I hope to be able to do a master's degree at TU's psychology branch as I also want to understand people's minds before I become a counsellor for people with stress or mental problems. This is another dream of mine."

Thammasat rector Prof Surapon Nitikraipot said the Disabled Student Services centre provided technological tools needed by students with different disabilities to enable them to study. They also needed dormitories with a proper environment, scholarships, consultation and job placement.

"Although they are offered facilities, it doesn't mean they can study more easily than students without disabilities. We focus on the quality of the graduates. So, the disabled ones study the same lessons, do the same academic projects and take the same tests as other students," he said.

Some of the students with disabilities had graduated with honours. Some decided to then do a master's degree, while others encountered tough problems finding a job, he said.

"We want disability centres in academic institutions to take care of disabled students systematically, to strengthen their educational capacity like what we [TU] has done.

"We're pleased to be a model for them," Surapon said.