Higher Education for Students with Visual Impairment in
Indonesia
Presented by Didi Tarsidi
Indonesia University of Education
(UPI)
Demography
• Indonesia is an archipelago consisting of 17,504 islands with about 215 million people.
• The population with visual impairment constitutes 1% of the whole population
= over two million people.
Education of the Blind
• The first school for the blind in Indonesia was established in 1901 in Bandung.
• The number of special schools for the blind grew rapidly after the first Indonesian
Education Act was passed in 1952.
• Most special schools for the blind offer nine years of schooling.
• Blind students go to regular high schools to continue their schooling.
Blind Persons at University
• The first blind persons to study at a university in Indonesia were in the second half of
19960’s.
• Currently about 250 blind and visually
impaired students are studying at higher education institutions.
• Courses in higher education that are most popular among students with visual
impairment include: language, special
education, law, social politics, guidance and counseling, civic education, theology.
Support at University
• Too little progress has been made from the university side to provide organized support to help students with visual impairment.
• No offices for Students with Disabilities available at universities and colleges in Indonesia.
• Bblind and visually impaired students depend upon voluntary service to succeed.
Five Most Significant Challenges Facing Blind and VI Students at
University
• Attitudinal barriers in the higher education community
• Access to reading materials
• Access to assistive technology
• Orientation and environmental accessibility
• Financial support
Attitudinal Barriers
• Certain universities in major cities welcome blind and visually impaired students.
• Higher education institutions in smaller towns tend to reject students with visual
impairment.
• Article 11 of the 1997 Indonesian Persons
with Disabilities Act specifically stipulates that every person with disabilities has equal
opportunity for education at every level.
• People’s ignorance of the law and their non understanding of the nature of visual
impairment often hinder students with visual impairment in entering higher education
Access to Reading Materials
• The majority of students prepare their own notes with the help of voluntary readers.
• Students usually are responsible for arranging their own readers service.
• Audiocassettes prepared by themselves using personal recorders, and to some extent by
service organizations.
• University books in Braille from Braille presses are still scarce.
Access to Assistive Technology
• No organized efforts to provide blind and visually impaired students with the assistive technology.
• Computer skill training programme run by organizations of and for the blind enables a number of students to gain computer skill.
• Some even managed to own their own computer.
• Use of floppy disks or CDs to access reading materials is becoming more and more
common.
• Special access software is still much too expensive for the majority of blind and
Orientation and Environmental Accessibility
• Students need help in getting oriented in a new environment.
• Some changes in the physical characteristics of the environment are necessary to enable them to navigate the environment
independently more easily.
• No organized support from the university to help students with visual impairment with their campus orientation.
• They generally manage to get oriented with the help of mobility instructors from special schools for the blind or from fellow students.
• The Persons with Disabilities Act 1997
Financial Support
• Reduction of tuition fees
• Paying fees in installments
• Scholarships
Determinant Factors for Students’ Success
• Students manage to organize their own support
• Universities show understanding,
encouragement and give opportunity
Office for Students with Disabilities
• The establishment of Offices for Students with Disabilities in many universities in a number of countries have proved to be helpful in securing that students with
disabilities get necessary help in order to have an easier university life.
• Efforts should be made to ensure that such offices are established in Indonesian higher education institutions.
• The tasks of these offices should include providing reading materials in accessible formats, readers service, assistive
technology, orientation courses, creating
Steps to Establish the Office
• Approach by organizations of persons with disabilities to the government and members of parliament in order to issue a new law or amend the existing law stipulating provision of such services with financial support from the government;
• Approach to universities and other higher education institutions to persuade them
establish the office and to help them organize services.
