More disabled students enrolling

Registrations up 72 per cent since 2004

The number of post-secondary students in Nova Scotia who have identified themselves as having a disability has jumped in recent years because of a partnership between the provincial and federal governments focused on supporting them.

The Department of Education said the number of people with who claimed a disability when they registered is up 72 per cent since 2004.

In April 2004 Ottawa and the province signed an agreement that marked a fundamental shift in how they offered grants and other assistance to students with disabilities, said Joe Rudderham, director of post-secondary disability services in Nova Scotia.

Under this agreement, called the Labour Market Agreement for Persons with Disabilities, qualified students can now get a reduction of $4,000 on their student loan and they can access up to an additional $8,000 to accommodate specific needs such as attendants, assistive technology or an interpreter. First, they need to have applied for a Canada Student Loan.

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The Mark A. Hill Accessibility Centre officially opened Oct. 3, 2008

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Ryan Moody, disability resource facilitator at the Dalhousie University Student Accessibility Centre, gives a 3:58 tour of adaptive equipment used by students.

Previously the province offered grants, but only to the first people who applied.

“It did change from a first-come first-serve program in terms of grants,” said Rudderham. “We only give grants to those individuals who have financial need . . . Now it is a system where you can get grants and you can get the supports, or you can just get the supports depending on financial need.”

Having the money to buy voice recognition dictation software such as Dragon Naturally Speaking has allowed people with obvious physical disabilities and people with less pronounced restrictions to advance their education.

Barry Abbott, a counsellor with the Atlantic Centre of Research, Access and Support at Saint Mary’s University, said software programs such as Dragon have made completing assignments easier.

“Traditionally Dragon would be used by students who are quadriplegic, who can’t use their hands to manipulate the computer. But now you’re seeing quite a few students too with learning disabilities who have significant writing difficulties,” said Abbott.

Ryan Moody, Disability Resource Facilitator with Student Accessibility Services at Dalhousie University, says students with learning disabilities make up the majority of clients he deals with on a daily basis.

He said doctors are diagnosing more learning disabilities than they used to.

“It’s a relatively new field, but students are more commonly being screened as students with learning disabilities,” he said.

Abbott said part of the reason more people with learning disabilities are able to get into the post-secondary school system is linked to human rights awareness.

Universitities, he said, have made greater efforts to accommodate the needs of people with disabilities.

“People have a much better understanding of their human rights protection, what is reasonable accommodation. . And there is an acceptance so all of these things are making more and more post-secondary education open to students with disabilities.”

“There is human rights legislation both federally and provincially, so universities have to think very hard about discrimination because it can come back to bite them,” Abbott said.

Although it is difficult to determine just how much of an impact the availability of online and distance education may have had on boosting the number of students with disabilities registered for post secondary studies, Abbott feels it is another reason why the number of post-secondary students has risen in Nova Scotia over the years.

“I could see how for certain people that might be a real benefit, for people who just can’t get there for whatever reason -- for people who need to work on their own schedules and so on. I think that education by long distance learning is certainly a great tool for people with disabilities”

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