Earlier last month, one post grabbed students’ attention in the online community “Everytime.” It was that a student with a disability was looking for his/her supporter. It has probably made many students wonder how Chonnam National University (CNU) supports students with disabilities to have equal access to campus areas and educational opportunities. It is known that the university has been committed to create an accessible environment for them. The Chonnam Tribune looked into the support system for those students and what efforts should be made to become a barrier-free campus.

Access to Campus Buildings
The university provides facilities and services so that students with disabilities can be ensured easier mobility on campus. The Support Center for Students with Disabilities (SCSD) offers a barrier-free campus guide map and a table containing information about accessible facilities for persons with disabilities in each building, such as bathrooms, ramps, and elevators. However, a map which informs us about the detailed location of facilities has not been updated for almost five years. According to the table, not all buildings are equipped with these facilities. Even if there are facilities for disabled students, it seems difficult for students in wheelchairs to use the facilities in some buildings. In the College of Engineering Building No.5, even though there is a bathroom for disabled students, its space is too small for them to use.

The lack of braille guidance blocks that connect places on campus is another problem. A staff member in charge of the SCSD said, “Braille blocks have not been installed in all facilities at the university, but I hope that there will be more braille blocks connecting major facilities such as libraries and the support center.” The university administration plans to install an appropriate number of braille guidance blocks in the near future so as to improve the mobility of visually impaired students.

Besides, students with disabilities are having a hard time accessing certain routes with steep slopes on campus, including the hill in front of the College of Humanities. To solve the problem, the center provides a transportation service so that they are able to move between classrooms. The vehicle is 25cm higher than a general car, so those students can ride more comfortably and go to places whenever they want. However, many paths between campus buildings are still hard to access by those who need mobility support. Even if it is hard to change every facility to be more accessible in the short-term, we hope the environment will be more barrier-free in the future.

Accessibility of Learning Services
The students who have disabilities can study more conveniently through learning support services, including personal supporters customized to each student who is in need. The supporters help them to go to classes and provide various forms of assistance such as campus life support, private tutoring and ghostwriting. There is no limit to the number of supporters per student with a disability. The SCSD also provides various electronic devices which can be rented to support the learning of impaired students.

In case of ghostwriting support, however, it is simply writing down the summary of the lecture. Those students who apply for the service need a supporter who writes down every single thing in the class, and not a simple summary. It is necessary that two supporters take turns writing the content. That way is more efficient than simply recording lectures. Regarding online lectures, shorthand scripts for lectures and assistance devices are provided for those students. According to the Enforcement Decree of the Special Education Act for a Person with Disabilities, an audible commentary which shows the screen, scene, and subtitles should be provided in the form of a video.

Therefore, it is needed that the learning support services change to give a more efficient way to help disabled students’ learning. Cho Hong-joong (Professor, Division of Special Education) said, “There may be slight differences depending on their majors, but it is very important for disabled students to be provided subtitles in online lectures. For online lectures at the university, it is recommended to provide video and text content at the same time when hearing-impaired students are taking the course.”

Web Accessibility with Alternative Text
People with visual impairments use screen readers that read the texts displayed on the screen of desktop computers and mobile devices with a speech synthesizer or braille display. However, if no alternative text to explain images posted on the website is provided, screen readers can only say “image.” Therefore, alternative text must be assigned to all visual materials of the documents on the website. It is the best method to improve web accessibility for the visually impaired.

Is CNU providing alternative text on its website and social media? The Tribune checked whether or not alternative texts were included in the posts released on the university's Instagram and Facebook from January to the end of August this year. As a result, there were 12 posts without alternative texts out of the 120 Instagram images. The same is true of two posts with images out of the 260 Facebook posts. The screen reader only said “image1” without a specific explanation, when it was told to read the image posted on the Instagram and Facebook feed. Jin Sol (Senior, School of Business Administration) said, "Getting information by using CNU’s Instagram is very difficult for me. There is also no proper system for delivering information to students with visual impairments in our school, so I usually get information through my friends."

Uploading image files with alternative text can help visually impaired students conveniently use the university’s social media. A staff member in charge of the university’s SNS management said, "Alternative text is helpful to visually impaired students, and we will consider providing it in the posts through future discussion." University authorities have to pay attention to the web accessibility of students with visual impairments and come up with measures to provide alternative text.

On the Way to a Barrier-Free Campus
The Tribune looked up what efforts CNU has made to build a barrier-free campus for students with disabilities. The university provides decent support in learning-related fields such as learning support and remote lecture support. Personal supporters and shorthand scripts are well-provided to support those students. However, support for their campus life that means campus accessibility and online accessibility need to be improved. Particularly, braille guidance blocks and alternate text problems have to be solved promptly. Facilities and services are essential to the impaired students.

In a barrier-free campus, anyone should be able to use the school safely and conveniently without distinction of disability and non-disability. According to the data from the SCSD, there are 105 students with disabilities at CNU; 98 on Gwangju Campus and 7 on Yeosu Campus. They should have the same access to school facilities as non-disabled students. That is the reason why we have to be committed to build a barrier-free campus.

By Lee Eun-ji, Tribune Reporter / Kim Si-yeon, Tribune Reporter