STUDENTS with disabilities should be able to apply directly to third level colleges without having to go through the CAO system, according to a report prepared for the Higher Education Authority.
The report recommends higher grants to take account of the additional living costs incurred by students with disabilities. Policies should be introduced to ensure that disability would not prevent a student from gaining a place in higher education.
It is society's "shame" that lack of physical access and lack of access to information prevent students from participating fully in higher education.
"In many ways, these two barriers can be dismantled in time, but popular and official indifference as well as negative attitudes towards disability are barriers which will prove more difficult to the report says.
In higher education about 0.54 percent of the student population according to a survey carried out for the report. This proportion amounts to "serious under representation" of disabled students in higher education, as the report estimates the figure should be closer to 6 per cent.
In the Republic, the highest proportion of students with disabilities was in University College Cork (UCC) with 1.48 per cent. However, in the North West Institute of Further and Higher Education in Derry, the figure reached 2.6 per cent.
The University of Limerick (0.13 per cent, or eight out of nearly 6,000 students) and Maynooth (0.14 per cent) had the lowest percentages, followed by Trinity College Dublin (0.22 per cent).
The report notes that in some colleges facilities are excellent, whereas in others provision is "severely limited or non existent". The numbers of disabled enrolled and the presence of facilities went "hand in hand", it states.
"Institutions are unlikely to make facilities available if they do not perceive a need conversely, students with more severe disabilities may be unwilling, or unable, to attend without special facilities and those with less severe disabilities will have no reason to look for help or make themselves known to the college.
Almost one third of colleges take an applicant's disability into account when assessing academic qualifications one third do not, and the rest do so only under special circumstances.
"If students with disabilities are to be fairly and objectively assessed for third level, there should be a joint approach by the appropriate second and third level bodies to entry to higher education.
Students with disabilities should be able to apply through the CAO system or directly to the colleges, where they would be formally interviewed. Interview panels should include the college officer with responsibility for disability issues.
Evidence shows that such students do not use the existing "special category" box on the CAO form because they fear it will reflect badly on their application or because they do not wish to mark themselves as different.
The report, by the HEA's committee on access and participation of students with disabilities in higher education, acknowledges the "significant financial implications" for colleges accepting such students. Lifts cost from £15,000 upwards and ramps about £1,000 per foot gradient..
