My name is Andrew Williams and I am the Academic Director of the Institute of Study Abroad in London , England.

Have you had students with disabilities study with you before?

Yes, we had a blind student that did not disclose her disability before arriving.  One of the key things that a student should do is disclose their disability before arriving, but she had not.  It made it very difficult for us as a program provider to organize things for her.  If we had known in advance, we could have organized special rooms for her, people to look after her and walk her around.  However, she withheld that information and by the time she arrived, all the blind-adaptive rooms were taken by other English and international students.  It made it difficult to provide things for her; essentially, we can cope with anything if we know in advance.  Since we did not have enough advance notice, we could not reserve a room suitable for her or arrange other accommodations to meet her needs.  The more information we have, the easier for us to treat this person as we would any other student.  We don’t want students to think that a disability will make us be prejudiced for or against their application; it has nothing to do with admissions decisions.  We only want advance notice so that we can prepare for their arrival.

There is no disability we can’t cope with.  There is an interesting lesson we learned as staff ourselves.  We once had a deaf student arrive from America , and before then, we did not realize that American Sign Language and British Sign Language are actually different.  We had to ring the Deaf Foundation in Britain , where we found there are only two people in all of Britain who know ASL.  They were able to come up and help us organize and help the student through orientation and understand what was going on.  We didn’t treat her any different than we did anyone else.

One student did have a problem.  She was blind, and wanted to go to a certain school in the UK to study medieval history.  Unfortunately, the documents that were examined in class could not be digitized for her without irreparable damage to the documents themselves, so she ended up having to change courses.  It all worked out in the end. 

What are your feelings on a student in a wheelchair in London ?

One of the problems that students in wheelchairs often have in London is that the city is not particularly conducive to wheelchairs.  The Tube itself is very hard to use; most buses are not accessible.  The easiest way to travel in the city is by black cab, because by law, every black cab has to be wheelchair accessible.  However, that adds a great deal of money to the expenses of a student’s already expensive study abroad experience. 

There is one college in London that is fairly well established as being wheelchair accessible.  It’s probably the only campus that in London , in the East End , that has access to the library, public services, and bars, pubs and theaters.  The problem itself is that London is a great town with so much to do, that students would go into London more often than they would if they were somewhere else.  The student in the wheelchair may then feel a little left out, so I would encourage the student in the wheelchair to go to one of the six or seven universities in England that were built in the 1960’s & 1970’s, which are Lancaster, York, Nottingham, East Anglia, Sussex, Essex, and Kent.  There are libraries, pubs, theaters, lecture halls, and residence halls all on campus.  The students in those institutions all go into the nearest town to campus are less prone to do that than the students who are living in London , so it would be much easier for a student in a wheelchair.

What is Butler ’s approach to students with either visible or hidden disabilities? 

This office, and any organization as a whole, believes that no student should be prejudiced against when applying to a study abroad program.  There is nothing that we haven’t actually dealt with in this office, whether its someone in a wheelchair, someone who is deaf or blind or anything else.  We can cope with anything, as long as we know in advance.  The sooner that we know the longer we have to get things organized and the easier we can make each student’s experience here.  The worse thing a student can do is not disclose until late in the process because it increases their chances of having an experience that is less beneficial because they weren’t getting the help we could have provided for them if we had known in advance.  The same goes for the program providers we work with; they should know as soon as possible.

How does the British law view disabilities?

One of the things that is very good about Britain and the education system here is that the state is more than willing to pay, and in some cases, completely fund the educational experience for someone who may be in a wheelchair or blind, and cover their expenses.  Government grants may actually pay for someone to care for a wheelchair-bound student, and be their personal aide; the salary can be paid for by the state.  They will pay for books to be digitized for blind students and give them transport costs. 

Also, a lot of English universities are willing to employ students to read books for blind students on the program.  We often split costs with the Institute, who does not believe that students should be unable to go abroad because of a disability.     

How can US-based universities work with programs to make the experience better for students?

I understand there is a major issue of privacy when it comes to students applying to go abroad if they have any kind of disability.  Again, I would encourage anybody who works at an American institution, if you do not want to do it in writing, pick up the phone and talk to a person in our American office, who will then relay the issues to us.  We find it very frustrating when we are not told about things, especially if the home school knew about issues and hasn’t shared it with us.  It makes the whole thing very awkward for the student when they arrive here and expect accommodations that we could have provided if we had known a few weeks in advance. 

In most cases, do you feel that students with disabilities can participate in all aspects of the program?

I don’t think there is anything that we do, as a program, that a student couldn’t do if s/he was coming to one of the universities.  I think I take that as a good sign, that with communication between the home school, our office, and the local universities, the information is getting out and the students are listening and they are doing things.

For example, we’ve had a few students in wheelchairs in Oxford .  They’ve been able to partake in all the things that we do, including all of the Saturday trips we’ve organized because the buses and taxis were wheelchair accessible.  For our non-London students, who come in during the weekend, and we have a boat cruise on the Thames , which all students have been able to get on the boat.  The restaurants that we take students to once per semester are all carefully checked to make sure they are accessible. I can’t really think of anything that we do that a physically disabled student cannot do.  We truly try to make sure all of are students are included.       

Why should a student with a disability study abroad?

There is no reason why a student with a disability should not study abroad.  I don’t think they benefit any more than students who are fully able.  It is incredibly beneficial for any student to leave their home culture, to move from their safety net and context to go abroad.  I can see with a wheelchair, there may be a sense of achievement.  There are many other students that have nothing “wrong” with them that gain the same sense of achievement.  The learning curve is beneficial for both kinds of student.  I don’t think that we as an institution would treat the students differently or expect a student that is disabled to have a different experience or end results; all students have different obstacles to overcome, and it is our job as the institute to help them overcome these obstacles.  Just because a student is blind, does not mean it is the only thing they will need help with.  They may completely conquer their blindness and experience homesickness, as other students.  They’re all just young people going through what young people go through.