The transition from high schools to higher education institutions can be especially difficult for students with disabilities as the impetus for securing necessary accommodations falls on students themselves rather than on parents or on the institution as it did in high schools. Students with disabilities are still facing issues in both their transition to higher education institutions and their retention to complete a degree or certificate. Educators and researchers suggest that self-advocacy skills would address the issue. A self-advocacy skill is an evidence-based predictor in secondary transition, having an impact on improved post-schoo l outcomes in education and employment. Coming to Ethiopia, over the last few years, higher educational institutions in Ethiopia increased from 11 to 32. Universities and enrollment rate also reached to 100,000 per annum. However, the number of students with disabilities in the universities is still low. Those who joined the universities have experienced challenges of different types ranging from academic to social. Ethiopian institutions do not have any explicit policy for students with disabilities. Similarly, the available provision for students with disabilities, if any, is negligible. For example, in the university where I work in students with physical impairments are facing lack of educational materials, non-inclusive environment (inaccessibility of library, dormitory, toilet rooms, classrooms, roads, and the like) and lack of awareness by the university community. Hence, although making higher institutions to be inclusive for students with disabilities is the responsibility of higher education communities and other stakeholders, students with disabilities are also expected to play a role (by using self-advocacy skills) to get appropriate services and supports to complete their education with better academic and psycho-social achievement that enable them to be competitive in the world of job and social integration, which is the aim of this review literature.
As an increasing number of students with disabilities enroll in Higher Education Institutions, discovering way to best meet these students’ needs becomes more pressing. The transition from high schools to higher education institutions can be especially difficult for students with disabilities as the impetus for securing necessary accommodations falls on students themselves rather than on parents or on the institution as it did in high schools. Many higher education institutions have responded to students’ needs by implementing program to teach self-advocacy skills. But, few of these programs have established assessment plans to evaluate their effectiveness [
Hence, students with disabilities are still facing issues in both their transition to higher education institutions and their retention to complete a degree or certificate [
Indeed, therefore, educators for example [
In line with this, it is better to see those empirical evidences that show how much self-advocacy skills are important to students with disabilities in higher education institutions to better maximize their education as put in below.
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THE EXPANSION OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN ETHIOPIA: Coming to Ethiopia, over the last few years, higher educational institutions in Ethiopia increased from 11 to 32 Universities and enrollment rate also reached to 100,000 per annum. However, the number of students with disabilities in the universities is still low. Those who joined the universities have experienced challenges of different type ranging from academic to social. To be more specific, physical barriers, absence of assistive technologies and devices, rigid curricular issues, absence of diversity management strategies, limitations of services provisions and unequal opportunities are expected to be challenges students with disabilities experience in higher institutions of Ethiopia [
THE CHALLENGE OF STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES IN HIGHER EDUCATION IN ETHIOPIA: There are findings that support the above fact. For example, [
As noted in Putnam (2003) as cited in [
Specifically speaking, to narrate the case the area where I am working in, studies conducted in the University of Gondar in Maraki Campus by [
LACK OF STUDIES ON SELF-ADVOCACY SKILLS OF STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES IN ETHIOPIA: However, although we mentioned the above and there may be some others that I did not mention, studies that focus on students with disabilities in higher education are very much limited in the country. Even, we may not have several studies that focus on quality education for all students in higher education in general. Supporting this idea, [
ETHIOPIA’S FUTURE GOAL TO HAVE AN INCLUSIVE SOCIETY: Nevertheless, Ethiopia in the future is aspiring and is determined to have an inclusive society in all its growth and development spheres. This we can understand from the National Plan of Action (2012-2021) of [
The National Plan of Action is based on a vision of a fully inclusive Ethiopian society, where children, youth and adults with disabilities, regardless of gender or kind of disability, as well as their parents and families, enjoy the same rights to participate in the same civil, political, economic, social, and cultural spheres and to access the same medical, educational, social services, training, work and leisure opportunities enjoyed by other citizens. In such an inclusive society, people with disabilities are accepted, their abilities are valued, their diversity and independence are recognized, their human rights are protected, and they participate actively in the life and development of their communities and the nation (Ministry of Labor and Social Affair, p.IV.)
Finally, though making higher institutions to be inclusive for students with disabilities is the responsibility of higher education communities and other stakeholders, students with disabilities are also expected to play a role (by using self-advocacy skills) to get appropriate services and supports to complete their education with better academic and psycho-social achievement that enable them to be competitive in the world of job and social integration. Supporting this idea, for example, [
Tedla, T.A. (2017) The Importance of Self-Advocacy Skills for Students with Disabilities in Higher Education for a Full Inclusion and a Glimpse of Ethiopian Case: A Review of Related Literature. Open Access Library Journal, 4: e3174. http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/oalib.1103174