Stuttering, disability and the higher education sector in Australia.
The aim of this study was to ascertain the extent to which Australian public universities and their associated disability liaison services offer web-based information for current or prospective students who stutter. The disability pages of the websites of all 39 public universities in Australia were visited and the information about disability services assessed according to 12 criteria developed by the authors. Results indicate that there is a dearth of information on Australian university websites available for students or prospective students who stutter. Only 13% of the sites reported any form of alternative teaching and assessment procedures for speech-impaired students and only 51% of 39 disability liaison officers responded when contacted by email. Such a student could not make an informed choice to enrol in a university based upon the information on disability services available on public Australian university websites.
University of Ballarat, Australia. g.meredith@ballarat.edu.au
Grant
G
Meredith
Ann
A
Packman
Genée
G
Marks
D001315:Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D003625:Data Collection; D006233:Persons with Disabilities; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D015995:Prevalence; D013064:Speech Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D013333:Student Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013334:Students; D013342:Stuttering / Q000453:epidemiology*