Sookmyung Challenger Global Explorer Team Realized Dreams in Sydney, Australia
- Views 1550
- Writer 커뮤니케이션팀
- 보도일자 2013-03-18
On January 29th in UNSW(University of New South Wales) classroom, there was one noticeable thing in front : there were two screens. One screen showed the usual lecture contents. However, the other screen displayed the subtitle containing even the instructor’s joke and nuance. A stenographer captured every single word the instructor says, students could understand the lecture without listening.
The one sitting in a front row looking intently in the smart pad is Bo-yeon Kim (Education, class 11), who is diagnosed with third grade visual impairment. She said “it is very comfortable to use the the individual smart pad to freely enlarge the lecture contents”.
In this class, besides Bo-yeon, there were twenty other disabled students and assistants. They are the first participants of the Sookmyung Challenger Global Explorer Team, a group composed of disabled students. Experiencing an actual class UNSW provides for disabled students, the group members were amazed by the education system.
Sookmyung’s Disable Student Resource Center organized Sookmyung Challenger Global Explorer Team visited Sidney in January for a week. Consisted of 10 disabled students, 11 assistants and professors, the 26 participant group visited Sydney’s organization for the disabled and college.
Although there were programs to study abroad for disabled students, this is the first time to dispatch more than twenty members to a non-Aisa country using English as an official language.
Students who couldn’t take a chance to study abroad were looking forward to the program. One student said “I couldn’t apply for the regular Global Explorer program because I was worried that I may make other students uncomfortable because of my handicap. So I am really happy to take the opportunity”.
Disable Student Resource Center had been preparing for six months thoroughly to make the program safe and meaningful. The manager of the center, Joo-young Kim said “We invited Kyung-min Kim (an english teacher who majored in education at Sookmyung, she is blind) to practice English speaking skills and held a meeting to reform the biased attitudes about disability” and “We even prepared a manual for an emergency”.
The group experienced Australia’s developed program for the disabled. They visited Vision Australia, The Deaf Society and The University of Sydney. They experienced electronic machines and supporting systems for the disabled. In addition, the group met Young-joo Park, a deaf Korean official working in the Land Bureau and listened Australia’s system for the disabled.
The University of Sydney has a well-organized system for the disabled. Until the student graduates, doctors, professors, and Disable Student Resource Center continually provides support to the students. Bo-yeon Kim said “The student doesn’t need to submit a prescription whenever he or she enrolls in a course at this university. Instead, all the faculty members in charge of the disabled students shared the student’s information and helped in a one-to-one system” and “Not only about the course, but the student can meet with the consultant for any other matter. I think that is the most valuable point in the system”.
Professor Sung-han Bae, the head of Disable Student Resource Center, said “The center planned this program to provide equal opportunity to the disabled students” and “The disabled students arranged the schedule themselves and found interviewees. I was impressed by their passion”.