The Ministry of Family, Labor and Social Services is continuing activities to promote accessibility. A meeting of "Counseling and Coordination Units for Students with Disabilities" was organized by the Ministry to support the full and accessible participation of students with higher education in educational processes and to create a roadmap for developing policies for students with disabilities.

The meeting, organized by the General Directorate of Disability and Elderly Services, took place online. Vice rectors, deans and representatives of the Advisory and Coordination Units of Students with Disabilities attended the meeting.

"In 2021, access to information will be emphasized"

 Dr. Orhan Koç, General Manager of Disability and Elderly Services, who gave the opening speech of the meeting, reminded that as the general directorate, they are natural members of the disabled student working group and work closely with the department of candidates for OSYM disability and emphasized that "We care about the education of our students with disabilities."  Explaining that access to information will be emphasized in 2021, Koç said, "We would like to support our students who are studying in universities and who need equipment. Let's develop a project for this. As long as we put the needs in real terms."

"If we strengthen the family by educating them, we will have more gains"

Noting that efforts are being accelerated to prevent disability, Koç said, "We are trying to implement the National Early Intervention program. In this context, trainings are given in our social service centers, such as premarital education for marriages, and trainings for individuals with genetic hereditary diseases to prevent obstacles... Early diagnosis during pregnancy, during and after childbirth is one of our top priorities." At this point, koç mentioned the importance of educating the family; "If we strengthen the family by educating them, we will have more gains. At this point, our universities are indispensable."

"Every individual should have access to information"

Pointing to the importance of making the whole school accessible, he called for "Every individual to have access to information." "Universities play a big role in this. Together, we can develop solution-oriented projects by detecting problems. We want to work with you in this field."

"In order to increase the universityization rate, it is necessary to support students in high school"

Noting the importance of the universityization rate to ensure disability employment, "There are 51,647 students, 35,000 of whom are men and 16,471 are women. Most of them are physically disabled." "In order to increase the universityization rate, it is necessary to support students in high school.

It is necessary to make projects to address the hardware deficiencies." "Underlining that only 5402 of the 51,647 students are in formal education, Koç said that this number should be increased. 

Reminding that EKPSS application has started for qualified employment in the public, Koç stated that the majority of individuals who enter 95,000 E KPSS are primary and secondary school graduates and stressed that it is gratifying that 45 percent of those appointed with EKPSS in recent years have graduated from undergraduate and associate degree.

"We know where our disabled person is, but there must be a portal where we can reach them"

Pointing out that there are 58,000 people with disabilities employed in the public, Koç stated that they want to work with universities on the problems they face in the working environment. Stating that the disadvantage of disabled people is multiplied especially during the pandemic period, Koç stated that they want to share the data with universities and publish analysis-oriented bulletins. He also noted the importance of the existence of the National disability database "We know where our disabled person is, but there should also be a portal where we can reach them".

During the meeting, which lasted about 4 hours, the heads of the relevant departments gave information about the legislation and what was being done. University representatives also spoke at the meeting and voiced their proposals.

"Accessibility Culture Must Be Created"

Expert human resources in the field of accessibility should also be developed, educator's education should be increased with importance, accessibility training should start at an early age so that consciousness is created at an early age and thus an accessibility culture should be established, and orientation training should be given to every new public official in the field of accessibility. Proposals such as focusing on studies on rare diseases and is also given accessibility certificates by universities have come to the fore.