In order to commemorate the 68th anniversary of Universitas Gadjah Mada, Care for Disabilities Student Activity Unit held a Seminar on Inclusive Harmony, entitled Difaphoria. The seminar presented several keynote speakers who are experts in disability sector, including Muhammad Joni Yulianto (Executive Director of Integration and Disability Advocacy), Susilo Andi Darma, S.H., L.L.M. (Lecturer at Faculty of Law UGM), and Tio Tegar Wicaksono (UGM Law Student). The event which was opened to the public was held on Saturday (25/11) at Grha Sabha Pramana UGM to celebrate International Disability Day.
There were two Talk Shows in the seminar with different themes. The first panel was entitled Accessibility towards Inclusive Campus while the second one was entitled Social Entrepreneurship. Aside from those panels, this seminar also presented Puser Bumi performance whose members are disabled people from Deaf Art Community, and visual art exhibition by disabled students from special schools for disabled people in Yogyakarta.
Tio obtained an opportunity to open the first discussion panel. Tio who is one of the disabled students shared his experience while studying at UGM. According to Tio, UGM’s commitment to realizing an inclusive campus has been well implemented. One of UGM’s efforts is giving accommodation to the disabled people during university entrance examination. The examinees are asked to fill out a special form and they are accompanied by a special assistant during the exam. In addition, the assistant also gives example on how to do the semester exams. During the semester exam, the faculty provides a computer-based test for Tio. According to Tio, the paper-based test is more difficult for certain disabled people.
However, Tio said there are still several things that require improvement, particularly the infrastructures. Tio said he often encountered rams at the first floor only, while the next floors do not provide rams and elevators. According to Tio, he also often encountered special road markings that are not appropriate such as the markings being blocked by a tree.
“It does take a lot of time and money (to provide the infrastructure),” said Tio.
On the other hand, Andi hopes other students will care for the disability group, particularly in conducting research or study regarding disabilities. Andi encourages the students and the Student Activity Unit to conduct research on disabilities every year. Those research projects are expected to be published and raise awareness of the stakeholders.