Annex - Recommendations on Government support

A1 Policy formulation

To formulate an “inclusive education policy” that covers childhood education to tertiary and lifelong education.
To formulate an “accessibility policy” that specifies a minimum standard of a wide range of accessibility arrangements and services to ensure equal opportunities for and effective communication with people with disabilities across different contexts.
The CRPD has entered into force for the People’s Republic of China, including the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) in 2008. The HKSAR’s initial report under the CRPD was submitted to the United Nations as part of China’s combined initial reports in 2010. The Second and Third Report on the progress of the HKSAR in implementing the CRPD has been issued in 2019.

To recognize the significance of inclusive education and accessibility services in the university.
To include the assessment of “inclusiveness” and the “quality of accessibility services” in the periodic quality audit of universities and self-financing post-secondary education sectors.

To increase the diversity of the members of the University Grants Committee (UGC) and the Committee on Self-financing Post-secondary Education (CSPE) in order to include the voices and needs that have probably been under-represented in the past, e.g., members with disabilities.
To make “Accessibility Enhancement” a regular funding category with a predetermined funding schedule instead of a “special and one-off funding” without a known schedule. For example, the funding can be used to enhance the physical and web accessibility of the campus environment (e.g. installation of automatic doors and purchasing accessible shuttle bus as campus transportation) and to expand the scope of accessibility services (e.g. increasing the manpower in the service provision and setting up the Office of Accessibility Service).
To offer students with disabilities grants to purchase assistive study aids
To provide subsidies for the recurrent recruitment of accessibility professionals and auxiliary assistants, e.g. sign language interpreters and personal assistants.

To ensure equal opportunities and inclusive policies of the joint university programme admission scheme.
To ensure the accessibility of the websites and application portal of the admission scheme.

The Sub-system should encourage a proactive discussion of applicants’ disability and needs between the applicants with disabilities and the participating-institutions as early as possible to find out details of the accessible facilities and arrangements available for students with disabilities.
- It would help applicants with disabilities make informed choices of study programmes.
- It would help participating-institutions identify applicants with disabilities, provide help and advice, and give appropriate consideration, as early as possible.
The core intention of “special consideration ” and how the “special consideration” would be executed should be stated clearly to let applicants with disabilities have better idea of how this Sub-system practically functions (Mitchell, 2012).
- Reference:Mitchell, L. (2012). How Hong Kong’s universities recruit, admit and support students with Disabilities.

To take the leading role of connecting local and overseas tertiary institutions for the sharing of good practices and experiences of inclusive teaching and learning as well as accessibility services.
The Rehabilitation Advisory Committee under the Labour and Welfare Bureau advises on the development of rehabilitation services including education for people with disabilities in Hong Kong, carries out the undergoing Rehabilitation Programme Plan Review, and assists the Government in promoting and monitoring the implementation of the CRPD in Hong Kong.