Thammasat University is recognized as the first higher education institution to launch the “Students with Disabilities Project,” aiming to broaden educational opportunities and ensure equal access to education for people with disabilities. Currently, Thammasat University has a total of 70 students with disabilities and 14 personnel with disabilities as technical officer, analysts, practitioner and educator.

The establishment of the Disability Support Services (DSS) Center has made Thammasat an accessible, equitable, and inclusive learning and living environment for all students with disabilities.

Disabled Student Services Thammasat University (DSSTU)_OIA Learning Support
Disability Support Services Thammasat University (Facebook)

The key supports and services from the DSS include the areas of:

1) Guidance counseling, admission program and student’s preparation
2) Dormitory and assistive devices
3) Instructional materials
4) Scholarships, grants, internships and job searching/employment
5) Examination and monitoring academic performance
6) Service center common room
7) Tutoring, buddies, mental counseling and volunteer to support on daily life
8) Facilities and building renovations (ramps, parking space and walkway) with “universal design” concepts
9) Other supports and services

1) Guidance counseling, admission program and student’s preparation

The guidance counseling session was not only given to TU students but also high school students with disabilities in order to promote the admission program. The center also facilitates high-school students with disability on the day of the examination to ensure that all of them have equal opportunities in the admission process.

1. Host a guidance counseling session at high schools for students with disabilities to makes sure that students understand the curriculum, career paths, and the support they will receive from the university.
2. Host a meeting for the admission program, discussing the details for the guidelines of the examination as well as taking care of the students and other matters on the day of the examination. The center also responsible for the test questions, asking the teacher to write an easier version of the test paper, because the admission program is aiming to accept every student with disabilities who has the potential to learn in the system.
3. For the student’s preparation, the service center also hosts a meeting between the lecturers and the students to go over the guidelines and details of the course such as how the classes in the university are different from those in high schools.

Besides helping the students with the study, DSS also takes care of general preparation such as explaining the university map, training the students to use assistive devices.

2) Dormitory and assistive devices

Regarding accommodation, every student with disabilities who wants to stay in the campus will be arranged into the dormitory without any exception. Buddy or volunteer staff (by request) as well as assistive devices matching with their disabilities will be allocated to them.

The admission program also provides scholarships to students in need. Each year the service center gives around 25 scholarships with 55,000 baht ( approx. US$ 1,600) per year which could cover the cost of room and board, depending on the type of scholarship and the terms & conditions.

For dormitory applications at the Rangsit Campus, students can apply online and fill out your details through online registration. Disabled students can fill out the dormitory reservation form with the necessary information so that the appropriate dormitories could be allocated for them. Students can specify their gender (Gender) according to their preference, and this will not affect the selection process. However, the office will assign dormitories based on the student’s biological gender.

Every student with disabilities in Thammasat has the rights to every assistive device they need. Everyone will receive a laptop computer and a voice recorder. Each student also receives the devices according to their needs. For a blind student, they will receive the white cane. For students with visual impairments, they receive an image enlarging devices. For students with mobility impairment, they can borrow both normal and electric wheelchairs to use for the whole time they study in the university and then return when they graduated. For the students with hearing disability, there are hearing and speaking aids and they also can request a class coordinator from the service center to help communicate with the faculty staff and the teachers. The center also takes care of the maintenance cost of all the devices.

3) Instructional materials

Instructional materials for courses they take will be provided in the forms that match wittheir types of disabilities, e.g. braille instructional materials for students with vision impairment, audiobooks for those with hearing impairment, textbooks with enlarged text, textbook files that compatible with the voice-over program. There are 4 recording rooms for audiobooks with staff and volunteers help recording the books.

4) Scholarships, grants, internships and job searching/employment

The students with disabilities that have the disability identification card will receive up to 60,000 baht from the government and up to 70,000 baht if the student study in science-related fields. The money will be used directly only for study fees that the students registered in each year.

The admission program also provides scholarships to students in need. Each year the service center gives around 25 scholarships with 55,000 baht ( approx. US$ 1,600) per year. The students don’t have to pay back to the university, they only have to check in with the service center at least once a week in the first few months and then once a month for the rest of the study years. These check-in session aims to keep track of the students’ study and any other problems being in the university.
ทุนการศึกษาโครงการนักศึกษาพิการ ปีการศึกษา 2566

DSS also seeks for external funding and scholarships from both private and government agencies to support the students with disabilities as done in this academic year, from “Engineering Charity Golf 2022”.
ทุนการศึกษาเพื่อสนับสนุนช่วยเหลือนักศึกษาพิการจากกลุ่ม “กอล์ฟการกุศลวิศวกรรม 2022” แบบฟอร์มการขอรับทุนกอล์ฟการกุศลวิศวกรรม 2022” ประจำปีการศึกษา 2565

Thammasat University is regarded as the first higher education institution to establish “Students with Disabilities Project” to expand educational opportunities for people with disabilities to receive equal education. Thammasat produces graduates who are equipped with knowledge and skills to enter the labor market.  Each year, more than 85% of graduates with disabilities are employed.
ผลิตบัณฑิตพิการหลากหลายสาขาสู่ตลาดแรงงาน (2022)
Expanding opportunities for education and employment (May,2022)

5) Examination and monitoring academic performance

Regarding examinations, the service center is responsible for making examination materials ready and suitable with the students’ disabilities, for example, making braille or enlarged text and the digital version of the test paper for students with visual impairments. The students can also make a request to take their test at the center and a request to increase the test time. The extra time is optional. Should the students need the extra time they have to arrive at the service center before an actual testing time and leave the test room at the same time as other students to prevent any foul play.

The service center tracks and monitors students with disabilities’ academic performance and arranges tutoring and/or counseling sessions if needed.

6) Service center common room

The service center also provides other miscellaneous services like the office area for the staff and the common room for the students. There are 4 recording rooms, 28 computers set with the screen reader program, and the image enlarging devices for the staff to produce the instructional media. The service center opens Monday through Saturday exclusively for students with disabilities. Students can use the common room for both academic purposes and for relaxing in their leisure time.

7) Tutoring, buddies, mental counseling and volunteer to support on daily life

Currently, there are English tutoring sessions at the language center available for students with disabilities. A group of volunteers (TU Buddy) that aims to help students with disabilities by giving some tutoring in a  specific subject, or any other support such as walking with the students to the building that he or she has never been to, or typing the documents to create the digital version for producing a braille version and even recording for audiobooks. Up until now, there are over 30 volunteers in the program.

The staff of DSS also provides a counseling session, talking with the students about their problems, mental, school-related and others.

8) Facilities and building renovations (ramps, parking space and walkway) with “universal design” concepts

Museums are one of the most important spaces for learning. However, if we consider the environment, physical structure, exhibition design, item placement, and information presentation in most museums in Thailand, it becomes evident that there are still limitations in accessibility for certain groups, particularly for people with visual impairments.

Considering the diversity of perception and physical differences among people, so that everyone can access information freely and equally, is something that has gained attention in many museums worldwide. One of the key “universal design” projects is the external and internal building structure of museums to facilitate blind visitors such as elevator and braille block. For exhibition design, sound and touch were used as means to present and describe objects in the exhibition. The audio description is the basic source of data that museums provided to blind visitors through individual guide or audio guide. The sound and touch in the exhibition allow blind people to increasingly gain information and participate in the museums.

Thammasat University Museum – Design for Disabilities 
Museum and Exhibition for Visually Impaired Persons

Other facilities and building renovations are such as the new elevators in the Faculty of Social Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, and Faculty of Science & Technology, adding braille numbering buttons and voice announcements. The current project is to renovate additional seven rooms on the first floor at the female dormitory to include the bathroom with holding rails, furniture, study table, kitchen sink and closet that supports daily living, and lastly the ramps in all dormintory areas.

9) Other supports and services

Innovative engineer:
In addition to the DSS efforts, Faculty of Engineering also innovates “Plug & Go Wheelchair”, an innovation for people with disabilities and senior citizens. This innovation won 2 awards from the competition on innovation for disabled and senior people. In year 2022, another team of students from the Faculty of Engineering worked on an electric wheelchair for paraplegics, a new design power wheelchair for easy transfer, and received a gold award for innovative design for the disabled and the elderly.
Electric Wheelchair for Leg-impaired People (Sep,2022)
Design and development of physical therapy upper limb device with symmetrical reflections mechanism (2022)
Plug & Go Wheelchair for Disabilities

Health innovation:
The issue of permanent disability caused by stroke is a significant problem with both economic and social impacts. However, this problem can be alleviated if patients can access innovative rehabilitation and assistance, particularly at the community level. One such innovation is the ‘Arm Booster,’ a device designed to assist in arm rehabilitation for patients. The device is user-friendly and easy to maintain, making it suitable for community use. It facilitates bilateral training, where both arms are used in physical therapy.

DSS provides support and services for students with mobility disabilities, hearing impaired, visual impaired, and many more.  For more information regarding the supports and services that the center provides, please refer to:
Support and Services of the Student Disability Center
This Able .Me

Related articles and websites:

1. Thammasat Host the “Well-being Promotion for Persons with Disabilities through Innovation and Sustainable Development (Jul,2023)
2. การส่งเสริมการจัดการศึกษาสำหรับนักศึกษาพิการในระดับอุดมศึกษา (Jun,2023)
3. รางวัลเหรียญเงิน ด้านการสาธารณสุข สุขภาพ และเทคโนโลยีทางการแพทย์ ชื่อผลงาน แฮทเตอร์ไกด์: อุปกรณ์นำทางอัจฉริยะ สำหรับผู้พิการทางการมองเห็น จากการประกวดผลงานนวัตกรรมสายอุดมศึกษา ประจำปี 2566 ในงาน “มหกรรมงานวิจัยแห่งชาติ 2566 (Thailand Research Expo 2023)