The participation of people with disabilities in higher education in Indonesia is still low. Data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) states that out of approximately 17.8 million people with disabilities of working age, only 2.8% have graduated from college. Discriminatory academic culture and the low pedagogical competence of lecturers in accommodating students with disabilities are the main obstacles to the successful implementation of inclusive education in higher education.

 

For this reason, the lecturer team of the Department of Special Education Faculty of Education and Psychology UNY through funding from the Australian Government through the 2022 Alumni Grant Scheme (AAGS) administered by Australia Awards in Indonesia (AAI) and also the 2022 Alumni Engagement Innovation Fund (AEIF) program supported by the United States embassy held a hybrid workshop for two days, Friday (12/5/2023) and Saturday (13/5/2023) at the Grand Rohan Hotel Yogyakarta.

 

This workshop aims to increase lecturers' awareness of people with disabilities in higher education. In addition, it is also to improve the academic competence of lecturers in designing and implementing inclusive pedagogy through the application of the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework. UDL focuses on changing the mindset - from "disabled student" to "disabled curriculum."

 

UDL helps lecturers design learning objectives, materials, methods, and assessments that can be adapted to meet the needs of diverse students. UDL believes that the diversity of students affects what they learn, how they learn, and why they learn. Therefore, the UDL framework provides a set of concrete suggestions that can be applied to each learning component to ensure that all students can access and participate in meaningful learning opportunities.

 

The workshop was attended by 50 offline and 36 online participants from 26 universities, namely (UNY, ISI, UST, UNJ, Univ PGRI Adibuana Surabaya, Univ PGRI Yogyakarta, UNINUS, UNS, Univ Mercubuana Yogyakarta, Univ Sultan Ageng Tirtayasa, UGM, USD, Univ Aisyiah Yogyakarta, UPI, Bina Nusantara, Univ Bengkulu, Univ Pamulang, UNP, UNU Yogyakarta, UNU North Sumatra, UI, IKIP Siliwangi, UNIMA, Univ Riau, UNNES, UAD, UMY). The workshop was opened directly by the Vice-Rector for Planning and Finance of UNY, Prof. Dr. Lantip Diat Prasdojo, M. Pd. The facilitators of this activity were Nur Azizah, M. Ed, Ph. D, Pujaningsih, M. Pd, Ed. D, and Alies Poetri Lintangsari, M. Si. The activity will be continued with mentoring and a UDL summit in July 2023 involving Prof. Dr. David Evans, a partner from The University of Sydney, Australia, and Dr. Frederic Fovet, a partner from Royal Roads University, Canada. (Author: Nur Azizah, Editor: Dedy, Tj.Lak)