Establishment of the Office of Accessible Education
Vice-President of Keio University &
Director of the Office for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion,
Akiyo Okuda
Keio University has always been committed to providing educational opportunities for students with disabilities. By creating the Office of Accessible Education, we will be further improving the backing infrastructure of the entire university while designing improved versions of support systems for students.
One of the office's first acts will be to make necessary adjustments so that all students are able to have equitable access to education as determined by Japan's Act for Eliminating Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities. With 10 undergraduate faculties and 14 graduate schools, Keio University offers a wide variety of programs to reflect its multifaceted student body. Likewise, our support services for students with disabilities must be able to respond to the diverse needs of every individual. Specifically, in response to the call to eliminate social barriers for students with disabilities, Keio University will engage in constructive conversations with students to deliberate about which types of reasonable accommodations may be provided in line with the admission policies, curriculum policies, and diploma policies of each of our undergraduate faculties and graduate schools. The Office of Accessible Education will consolidate, manage, and share resources about support efforts implemented across Keio University so that it can help provide reasonable accommodations that are appropriate to any given student's situation. The office will also collaborate and form networks with institutions outside Keio, fulfilling an essential aspect of providing the best possible support.
In addition to these activities, the Office of Accessible Education will conduct workshops aimed at faculty and staff to increase awareness of disabilities among its community and examine effective ways of accommodating students. The office is also situated in such a way as to be able to promote on-site support for those with disabilities. Furthermore, we will continue to use and develop e-learning and other similar resources. Everyone should play a part in creating a collaborative environment and providing support to others, not only faculty and staff members who are in charge of the student support systems. To tackle this broader range of initiatives, we created the @ease Project.
Through the @ease Project, students work alongside faculty and staff members to provide support to others. After completing training, Keio students, who are called "@ease supporters", can get involved with accessibility projects which are aimed at aiding students with disabilities. This program was designed to encourage students with and without disabilities to learn from each other and teach each other while working on support efforts, thereby enriching the campus experience for everyone. The @ease Project also works by training people who themselves experience disabilities so that they have sufficient skills and knowledge to provide support to other students with disabilities. Anyone can provide support. Anyone can receive support. This is the type of system that the @ease Project is working to create.
The goal of the Office of Accessible Education is to foster a community built on mutuality and trust which will provide a platform to support students with disabilities while also helping faculty and staff members. No matter what challenges they face, Keio University alumni--both those with disabilities and those without--have gone on to thrive in every sector of life. Our expectation is that the diverse individuals who make up our student body will be able to enjoy their studies, experiencing impactful opportunities on the way to graduation, and revolutionize our society by pushing for innovation and reform as true leaders.