Supporting Students with Disabilities @ease project

Keio University has created a support system named the "@ease Project" so that various departments can work together in order to provide support for students with disabilities. This webpage gives an overview of the @ease Project and its initiatives.

The project was named @ease (at ease) in order to express the hope its activities will set its members' minds "at ease" and create a safe and welcoming community full of people who are able to comfort and support each other. The reason that we use the "@" symbol in our name is due to the gender-neutral movement in language, taking special inspiration from Spanish. "@" can be read as either "o" or "a," harmonizing the two gendered expressions in a way that indicates the value of complementing differences. This then inspired the name of the project because its underlying philosophy promotes collaborative community.

These accommodations have been available in the past as well, and we hope that by providing this list and having students fill out an application form for reasonable accommodations, they will be able to choose the options which best suit their situation, thus avoiding miscommunications or forms of support that are mismatched to their needs. Our goal is that this process allows students to get connected with the best possible resources they can.

At many of Keio's undergraduate faculties, students are able to experience multiple campuses and a wide array of learning opportunities. As a result of this, each campus is equipped with its own set of administrative offices at the undergraduate and graduate levels which manage a student's reasonable accommodations from the day they enroll to the day they graduate. To maintain a consistent experience across Keio's campuses, we have created a system to manage student portfolios so that they will have constant and reliable access to support options.

Keio University wants to ensure that every student has access to consistent and reliable support from day one until graduation through the @ease project . For the best possible student experience, accommodations are closely coordinated among the staff in each academic department, and course faculty members.

For faculty, staff, and students to equip themselves with a mindset that fully understands the concept of reasonable accommodations and round out the resources for these accommodations, Keio University has put together e-learning tools and similar materials so that individuals are able to acquire necessary skills as a part of Keio's ongoing and future educational initiatives.

To provide support for students with a variety of disabilities as smoothly as possible, Keio has and will continue to curate a collection of cutting-edge assistive equipment and technologies that can meet the needs of people with different types of disabilities. Students can use these devices after applying to receive reasonable accommodations. Keio will tailor which devices it provides based on the individual needs of the student.

For support that needs a more human touch, Keio University has established a team of undergraduate and graduate volunteers from its academic programs that operates across its undergraduate faculties, graduate schools, and the university as a whole. The students who carry out these activities are known as "@ease supporters." For specifics on this program, please see the section above titled "Developing support options for disabled students."