10.6.7: Accessible facilities

King Abdul Aziz University is a beacon of awareness in the service of people with disabilities and its research, and provides a service similar to that offered by the developed countries to this dear group of university employees and students in particular, and the society in general.

The efforts of KAU in serving people with special needs in the field of higher education are continuing and, up to now, KAU has received appreciation from many authorities for the special provided services, such as:

• The National Academic Accreditation Authority, NAAA, described the services provided by the Center as “Impressive”.

• The University's College of Engineering received a “Strong Points” evaluation by the American Board of Engineering (ABET) Accrediting Authority for the services provided to students of with special needs.

• The University currently chairs the Care Committee of Students with Special Needs at the universities of the Gulf Cooperation Council states and embraces the Secretariat of the Committee due to its providing of advanced services, consultations and research support services to the rest of the universities in this field.

• King Abdulaziz University has been keen to create an inclusive university environment that enables all students, including people with disabilities, to access academic facilities and services easily and independently. The university buildings are equipped with elevators, ramps and special parking, along with clear signage and wide walkways that allow safe movement within the campus. Classrooms, laboratories and libraries are also equipped with assistive technologies to suit the needs of students with visual, hearing and motor disabilities.

• The General Directorate of Public Services, in cooperation with the Deanship of Student Affairs, is working to follow up on the maintenance and development of these facilities on an ongoing basis to ensure their compliance with the Accessibility Standards, in a way that enhances the achievement of the principle of equality in the educational environment and contributes to equitable access to education for all>

KAU has around 1,100 students with disabilities, including 200 with visual impairments. KAU has launched a project, called “Show Me The Way”,  to make its campus and facilities individually accessible for people with visual impairments, by making the educational experience accessible for blind and visually impaired students. This project has been the winner for this year’s (2020) “Zero Project” competition which provides a platform for the most innovative and effective solutions to problems that persons with disabilities face.

This project provides a Bluetooth blind pathway and it is one of the initiatives of the National Transformation Program 2020. It enables people with a visual challenge to roam the university's academic field without any personal assist and by using a path on the ground and instructions for connecting them from the mobile phone that is connected to the Bluetooth network. The product is named (Show Me the Way) with a patent registration in progress. 

The "Show Me the Way" project is a smart phone application that is one of the pioneering projects in the field of wireless guidance technology in the Kingdom, allowing people with visual disabilities the freedom to move from one place to another on the university campus, completely dependent on themselves by simply standing on the touch lines with the help of the electronic application in areas covered with orientation guidance devices. The application works on setting signs and descriptions of all the university's academic, educational, training, administrative, and other services, such as mosques, restaurants, etc., through which the user passes the application of obstacles, entrances and exits according to the geographical coverage available in the application. KAU stresses the importance of providing services and technologies that appoint students with special needs at the level of mobility, services, activities or academic affairs, as part of the university strive to avail access facilities, for disabled, within the university environment through many programs and projects that have been completed recently. The project divided the university into stages. The first stage that was completed included the public administration building, the Deanship of Information Technology, the Deanship of Student Affairs, the Admission and Registration Deanship, the Center for Special Needs, the University Mosque and the surrounding facilities and services. 

Access to University Dorms

• Students, who have various types of disability like mobility, vision, and hearing, get free accommodation in the university dorms, and they are provided with services that guarantee a normal university life similar to the rest of their colleagues without any distinction. They also have the priority in choosing the rooms they prefer in the dorms.