Russia: Getting a College Education in Yekaterinburg
By Lena Lienteva, Director, Free Movement (translated by Erin Trouth)
Disabled people, who dream of a college education, typically experience fear, feelings of uncertainty, and torturous doubts, because they well know that higher educational institutions are not ready to accept students with disabilities. Disabled students must on their own overcome all the barriers and difficulties that arise. Higher education is especially difficult for individuals who have difficulty getting around, (visually impaired people, wheelchair users, and people with prosthetic limbs), and for individuals who have difficulty interacting with others (hearing impaired people and those who have serious speech impediments). Higher education for wheelchair users is a real challenge, since most college buildings were built decades ago without any concern for accessibility. The problem of convenient and physically accessible public transportation will remain serious for many years, by all appearances. In the meantime, individual disabled people must solve this transportation problem for themselves, or with help from friends and family.
If you need special conditions in order to take a college entrance exam or to attend classes, with considerable effort you can work something out, or make a request at the time you send in your application. It is the exception rather than the rule that your request is given special attention. But I have identified several examples in my home town - Ekaterinburg - where personal sympathies, not policy, have helped people with disabilities get an education at the university.
For example, Igor Beliakov, who uses a wheelchair, has a speech impairment and difficulty controlling his arms, was able by special agreement to take the entrance exams for the Department of Mathematics and Mechanics at the Ural State University alone in a first floor classroom, with the help of a his home computer. Unfortunately, Igor was not accepted into the University because he did not pass the math exam. His home schooling had not provided him with sufficient background.
Another wheelchair user, Elena Toporova, was able to take the entrance exams for a distance-learning program in Liberal Arts at USU with special support in 1998. She was given the exam questions and left alone in a first floor classroom to prepare. After the specified preparation time, the examiners came downstairs to hear her responses. Most surprisingly, before the exams, several professors traveled (at the University's expense) to her home in the outskirts of Ekaterinburg to provide her assistance preparing for the exams. Elena received a passing score and was enrolled as a correspondent student. As a correspondence student, Elena never went to the university again. Before every final exam, she called her professors, explained her situation, and invited them to her home to give the exam. She was even able to defend her thesis in her home. Elena completed her coursework and graduated with honors.
Nikolai Tkachenko, a wheelchair user who has cerebral palsy, was accepted at the Social Sciences Institute of Ural State Professional and Pedagogical University without taking entrance exams, because he had previously graduated from a vocational school with excellent marks. He decided to study on campus rather than via correspondence, and therefore he had to leave his house every morning between 5:30 and 6:00 and, using an electric wheelchair, travel across town on public transportation.
Understandably, a wheelchair user, who must ask for help to be heaved onto a bus, gets a variety of responses from the other passengers and from the driver. Some are sympathetic, but others mutter to themselves: "Where does this cripple think he's going at rush hour? He's just creating problems and getting in people's way." Nikolai managed because he always got on the bus at the first stop and stayed on until the last stop. His first three semesters were not easy, because all of his classes were in different buildings and on different floors; and, of course, there were no elevators in the university buildings. Some days, his first class was on the fourth floor of one of the buildings on the main campus, his second class on the first floor of a different building, and his third on the second floor of a building off of the main campus in another part of town - requiring a journey that involved two city busses. Nikolai's classmates carried him up and down stairs and helped him to get on and off the busses and trolleys that took him from one building to another. By the end of his second year, all of his classes began to be in the same building, even if on different floors. But this was not Nikolai's only problem. He and his wife live on the 14th floor of an apartment building with an elevator that broke periodically. As a result, he missed his classes. It was acceptable to occasionally miss some classes, but missing class during final exams was not an option. He had to get his neighbors to carry him down 14 flights of stairs, and back up again after classes. One day, when the elevator broke down again Nikolai, who was fed up with this situation, decided to speak out about it publicly and called the local TV station.
He told them his story, and they agreed to do a special report on the problems that he faced in getting an education. It aired on TV and the very next day the elevator was repaired. But even more importantly, the report made it to the ears of high-level city officials. Very soon after, the Ministry of Social Services awarded Nikolai with a hand-controlled Oka car, at no cost to him and without the usual waiting period. In his fourth year at the University, all of his group's classes were scheduled on the first floor of one building in order to make things easier for him. The first floor even has a restroom with stalls wide enough to accommodate a wheelchair. Nikolai will graduate next year.
Stanislav Bannikov had a spinal cord injury in the 9th grade. Because he uses a wheelchair, he finished high school at home. He enrolled in the distance-learning program at the Ural State Institute of Law and was accepted as a "quota student." This means if he passes all of his entrance exams (3 of 5 points), no matter how high the grade, he will be accepted into that university. Most students must get 4s or 5s to be accepted into the university. To take semester exams, he drives his car to the Institute's main building. Although the entrance is not convenient for wheelchair users, the building has an elevator. One of his fellow students will always help him out when he gets in a difficult situation - getting up the few stairs to the entrance, or if the elevator is broken, carrying him to his classes on the third floor. Because students in wheelchairs are such a rarity, the administration tries to ensure that the elevator is working when Stanislav comes to take exams. Stanislav is popular with his classmates because of his calm, open, and good-natured personality.
In our city there is a visually impaired student from out of town who studies at the School of Art. He is living in the student dorm free of charge with his grandmother who provides him personal assistance, including helping him to classes. There is a first year student in the Department of Economics who is totally blind. His parents drive him to school and lead him to classes.
These are only a few examples of disabled college students in Russia who have managed to get a higher education. Unfortunately, they are the exception, not the rule. With the help of friends and family, these young people with disabilities have managed to get to their classes safely, attend classes and take exams. And although they have managed to get an education, it has required heroic deeds from each of them due to the obstacles they face daily. There are still no special departments to provide support to disabled students, and students are still very dependent on friends and family to get through the day. In short, they are still forced to be super heroes instead of super students.
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