Education and people with disabilities

People with some kind of disabilities, especially those with mobility problems, face many difficulties in their daily lives. The difficulty in independent mobility, are a deterrent to many daily tasks. Sometimes this fact often leads to exclusion from very important activities.

Such an important daily activity, in which people with limitations or disabilities are experiencing exclusion, is the access to education. Greece is a country with significant shortages in the provision of infrastructures in the educational sector, for people with disabilities.

As the level of education increases, both presence and participation of those people (especially at a younger age) is decreasing

The Greek Center for the Development of Educational Policy, in collaboration with the Disability Issues Observatory of the National Confederation of People with Disabilities, presented in May 2018, the research “Basic Sources of Special Education: Discrimination in Education and Work” describing how limitations and disabilities affect the educational path of the Greek people.

According to this study, Greece has huge differences compared to other European Member States, in terms of providing infrastructure and opportunities. Exclusion in access to education system, regarding people with disabilities, is particularly high.

Persons with disabilities stop at a much lower level of education, in comparison with non-disabled persons, showing a significantly lower level of education, higher rates of early school leaving and higher NEETs.

Statistics.

Direct result of the above is the high unemployment rate of these people. Greece holds the highest unemployment rate, 37.2% in the EU-28, for disabled persons. This logically creates an increase in poverty and social exclusion indicators.

In order to change these social restrictions we need to make significant changes towards many levels. Access to education is a human right, which should not be deprived of people with disabilities.