Projeto EUni4All - European Network of Inclusive Universities: um contributo da Universidade do Porto

Abstract

The EUni4ALL Project - Network for Inclusive Universities emerges with the aim of creating a network of inclusive European Universities, in order to encourage the inclusion of people with disabilities in higher education and in international mobility programs. This project was created by the ONCE Foundation, through the financing of the ERASMUS + program, together with a consortium formed by the European Disability Forum (EDF) and seven other European universities, including the University of Porto. The project intends to create a guide entitled "European Guide of Inclusive Universities" and disseminate it on an accessible web platform, to facilitate access to information for students with disabilities, regarding the inclusive conditions of each University. For such, the consortium prepared a self-assessment guide - "Guide to Standards for the Inclusion of Students with Disabilities" - for the universities interested in joining the Project's network, to self-assess to what extent their environment, policies and practices are inclusive and to motivate them into improving certain aspects. One of the aspects that the EUni4All Project aims to investigate and analyze, in the network's universities, is digital accessibility (of the digital platforms, digital study materials and contents, and assistive technologies). Within the scope of this project, and in conjunction with the University of Porto (which is represented by the Inclusion Office - NAI), the dissertation intends to focus on the issue of digital accessibility and investigate the evolution of the respective conditions in the last thirty years, up to the present time, with the aim of collecting relevant testimonies that support the respective evolution in the University of Porto. The methods used for data collection were Semi-structured Interviews, carried out to the University's services responsible for managing digital accessibility, to five alumni students with visual impairments and three current students with visual impairments, in order to understand and compare their perspectives regarding the evolution of the conditions of digital accessibility. For the analysis of the interview data, the Thematic Analysis was selected as a method. The results of this investigation contribute to the project, highlighting the relevance of digital accessibility, in the context of higher education, and promoting the inclusion of people with disabilities at the University of Porto.