Student Life

Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University Guidelines on Support Services for Students With Disabilities

Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University (hereinafter referred to as “APU”) will provide support based on the following guidelines to students with physical, developmental, psychological, and other psychosomatic disabilities (hereinafter referred to as “students with disabilities”).
However, these guidelines serve to establish the university’s support service standards and core foundation. Support provisions will be finalized through thorough discussion between the students with disabilities and the relevant parties after reviewing reasonable accommodation for the individual student in line with the student’s disability.

1. Core Support Principles

All APU faculty and staff will aid in the process of enabling students with disabilities who request support, to have access to the appropriate support needed in order to use their learning experiences at our university to grow and fully connect with society. APU expects that all enrolled students and relevant parties understand these guidelines and will work together to realize our objectives.

2. Basic Policies

1. APU faculty and staff will provide support to students with disabilities, in a way that will avoid making distinctions between students with and without disabilities, so that all are able to lead fulfilling student lives with a mutual appreciation and respect for human character and individuality.
2. Initiatives implemented as support for students with disabilities will aim to contribute to the overall growth and learning of all students.
3. In principle, support provisions for students with disabilities will be implemented based on requests for support by the students with disabilities.
4. In the case of difficult decisions concerning support provisions, APU will refer to the principle of reasonable accommodation in the Basic Act for Persons with Disabilities, as well as the standards and treatment set out in MEXT’s Investigative Report on Learning Support for Students with Disabilities (Preliminary and Secondary Summaries). Both the disabled student’s own individual situation and the university’s environment will be taken into consideration in these decisions.

3. Support Objectives

The primary objective of APU support for students with disabilities is to ensure that their right to an education and learning is not wrongfully harmed because of their disabilities. At the same time, it is our hope that the provision of appropriate learning support when necessary, in addition to other varieties of support activities, will result in the cultivation of improved personal relationships and will provide opportunities for support persons to better their understanding of disabilities.
An additional objective of support is to help students with disabilities understand the characteristics of their disability and develop self-advocacy skills to advocate for the types of support and resources they need.

4. Support Framework

Individuals involved in support for students with disabilities will consist of APU faculty and staff in addition to enrolled students. APU will cooperate closely with an external specialist regarding support for persons with disabilities.
A “Consultation Desk for Students with Disabilities” will be set up in the Student Office in order to provide university-wide support to students with disabilities. Support Coordinators for Students with Disabilities will be placed in the Student Office. Information concerning the placement of Student Coordinators in these offices will be made public to the student body. Students will not only have the option of the Consultation Desk available to them, but will also be able to directly consult with Support Coordinators.
Staff at the Consultation Desk for Students with Disabilities will connect students with disabilities who come in for consultation with the appropriate Support Coordinator in the above offices according to the nature of the issue. Support Coordinators will be in charge of making the necessary learning support adjustments for students with disabilities, in addition to monitoring collaborative support efforts between support staff and the relevant departments to ensure that efforts are appropriately carried out.

5. Protection of Personal Information and Confidentiality

1. Support persons who possess knowledge of a personal information of students with disabilities (this includes information concerning the disability and consultation records) as a result of their support activities must strictly manage the information in their possession, and obtain consent directly from the student in the case that it is necessary to submit or disclose this information to a third party.
2. Support persons may share personal information concerning the students with disabilities while respecting the boundaries of collective confidentiality in cases where APU determines collaborative support provisions to be necessary.

6. Disclosure of Information

Mediums like APU website, will be used to spread information on university support policies for students with disabilities, the support system, consultation process, and support provisions. APU will notify students and prospective applicants via appropriate means as seen fit.

7. The Student Office will be in charge of all administrative matters concerning these guidelines.

8. The President of the university will make the final decision with regards to revision or abolition of these guidelines after deliberation by the Student Affairs Committee and Academic Affairs Committee.