Three Questions for Dr. Carsten Bender on Accessibility at TU Dortmund University
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Dr. Carsten Bender has been in charge of the Department of Disabilities and Studies (DoBuS) in the Center for Higher Education at TU Dortmund University since 1 January, 2019. DoBuS strives to create equitable conditions of study for people with disabilities and chronic illnesses; in this field, TU Dortmund University already holds a vanguard position nationwide. On December 3, the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, Carsten Bender sets out further potential for development.
Dr. Bender, do the new elevator at the Mensa bridge and the wheelchair ramp at the parking lot on Otto-Hahn-Straße mark the end of construction work for accessibility at TU Dortmund University?
No, for example, the area around the bus stop under the Mensa bridge still needs to be remodeled so that everyone has safe, unimpeded access to the campus. But, on the whole, we are in a pretty good place with regard to building accessibility at TU Dortmund University – not least because the Department of Construction and Facility Management does an extremely good job in this area.
Apart from architectural accessibility, obstacles also have to be removed in research and teaching. Where do you still see a need for action in this area?
Accessibility is not just a question of building infrastructure but much, much more. One major topic is digitization at the university. Here we need to fully exploit our potential for students with disabilities and, at the same time, prevent new barriers being erected. For example, e-learning offerings can be a great help to chronically ill students because they are not bound by time and space. Moreover, when they are designed for accessibility, they also offer opportunities to students with hearing or visual impairments. In 2020, DoBuS will expand its advisory services in this area and not only advise and train students, but also colleagues in research and teaching as well as in technical services and administration.
With regard to disability and studying, TU Dortmund University is seen as a national leader. Where do you still see room for development?
From the BeSt-2-Studie we know that of the 96 percent of students who have difficulties studying because of health issues, these difficulties are not obvious to outsiders. Through our advisory services it has become clear that these students very often hesitate to reveal study-related problems linked with depression, anxiety, cancer or reading and writing disorders when dealing with staff and other students – partly because they are worried about being stigmatized or suffering discrimination. The World Health Organization (WHO) has adopted the term attitudinal barriers which we use in the sense of an internationally recognized understanding of disability. Every one of us as well as TU Dortmund University as a whole should ask ourselves how we can dismantle these barriers in our minds.
Vita
Dr. Carsten Bender (b. 1979) studied special education at TU Dortmund. In 2017, he won the Dissertation Award of TU Dortmund University for his analytical study of both the social environment and its perception of the situation of people with age-correlated sight loss. Before becoming head of DoBuS in 2019, he was employed in research and teaching both in the Faculty of Rehabilitation Sciences and the Institute of Sociology. It is characteristic of his work that he includes insights he extrapolates from his own experience of impairment and disability.
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