Banco Santander S A : 21% of students with a disability have experienced discrimination at some point during their university studies

INCLUSION IN AND OUT OF CLASSROOMS

In relation to perception of the level of inclusion of students with disabilities at universities, 20.7% of the 1,860 students consulted said they had experienced discrimination at some point during their university studies.

The head of Global Projects and Communities at the Universia Foundation, Paloma de Andrés, paid particular attention to the main reasons: 'these relate to some kind of problem with teachers, such as lack of respect, failure to address their needs, poor attitude etc. (38.2%), or accessibility problems, such as architectural barriers, non-adapted exams, lack of curricular adaptation etc. (37.9%)', she said.

Turning to relations with classmates, in connection with isolation 1 out of 3 students with disabilities say they feel isolated with respect to other university students. In this respect, 16% of students with disabilities feel their classmates behave differently towards them in comparison to the rest of the student community. 35% also feel they have more difficulties than their classmates with no disabilities to engage with other students.

One high point, however, is cooperation among classmates to enable students with disabilities to follow classes, and a quarter of students with disabilities confirm this.

Participation in academic activities is considerably higher, since more than 40% claim they take part whenever they can, although more than 15% have the feeling they are isolated when taking part in this kind of academic activities. This participation is lower in the case of activities outside the academic sphere (leisure and free time, sport etc.), since half of students with disabilities never or almost never take part in this kind of activities, and only 20% do so regularly.

The president of the Spanish Committee of Representatives of People with Disabilities (CERMI), Luis Cayo Pérez Bueno wished to draw particular attention to the following: 'University inclusion - vigorous, ambitious, with a certain amount of scope - needs a shake-up, a reactivation, to make this aspect one of the most important issues in higher education. The new Universities Law (LOSU) announced by the government must be this instrument of leverage, and the social movement of the disabled, acting at the forefront at all times, has already informed the government and the university community of our proposals in this area. The university must make a collective effort to improve the productive tension in response to the desires of disabled people to be included'.