Challenging Disability Barriers: Encountering and overcoming limitations

Content

Students will analyse, experience and reflect on the daily life of people with disabilities at their respective university and in Göttingen. They will research disability studies, analyse accessibility at their universities, examine structural barriers limiting disabled people, discuss findings with participating students and develop improvements through a challenge-based education approach (CBE) in collaboration with support groups and / or municipal / university offices.

This module allows students to experience diverse perspectives regarding different lives, contexts and circumstances to broaden their horizons through service learning, gain a better understanding of other ways of living, develop societal improvement.

Learning outcomes

This module will focus on the participants’ social skills. They will:

• familiarise themselves with research outcomes of disability studies;
• be acquainted with the physical constraints and emotional challenges of people with disabilities;
• learn to reflect upon their own reactions and behaviour and challenge their validity;
• learn to critically reflect upon their point of view in situations of social interaction;
• contribute to accessibility improvement.

Programme

Part 1: Virtual phase A (pre-mobility): four online lessons over four weeks

Students will analyse the situation of people with disabilities at their respective university, examine various challenges, share findings with all participants, develop possible improvements to implement.

Part 2: On-Site Phase:

Students will take part in a one-week course at Göttingen University where they will:

• be acquainted with the physical constraints and emotional challenges of people with disabilities by physically experiencing the situations (e.g. spending a day in a wheelchair, moving around Göttingen with a white cane, experiencing parasport activities, etc.);
• learn to understand the reactions, emotions and feelings of other people and to assess situations from a different perspective;
• learn to reflect upon their own reactions and behaviour and challenge their validity;
• develop, in small, mixed-university groups, projects in collaboration with local organisations, administrations, interest or support groups to improve current contexts.

Part 3: Virtual phase B (post-mobility):

Students will finalise and submit proposals to local partner for implementation.

Assessment

• 1 online presentation on a topic in the area of disability studies (max. 10 minutes per person)
• 1 group presentation to present their project (max. 5 minutes per person)
• 1 group report presenting a proposal to improve the situation of a specific case chosen by the group (max. 5 pages per person).

Lecturers

Johann Fischer, University of Göttingen

Ashley Chandler, University of Göttingen

János Fiala-Butora, University of Galway

Līga Kļaviņa, University of Groningen

Course dates

Online: 9^th February - 5th March 2026, 23^rd March - 17^th April 2026

On-site: 9^th-14^th March 2026.

Entry requirements: Good command of English; some knowledge of German is an advantage

Application procedure:

Students from all ENLIGHT partner universities are eligible to participate. Students will be selected at each of these universities separately. Students interested in the course need to apply via their home university. They should contact their faculty or programme to verify whether it can fit in their curriculum and to ensure academic recognition of the credits obtained. The home university will select the permitted number of students, inform the students as soon as possible, and then send these names to the host institution. Unsuccessful students will be placed on a waiting list and may get a place, if other universities do not use all their allocated places.

Please select your home university below and contact your ENLIGHT coordinator for further information on the application process or consult the linked information.

• University of the Basque Country: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
• University of Bern: Application instructions for students at the University of Bern
• University of Bordeaux: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
• Comenius University Bratislava: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
• University of Galway: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
• Ghent University: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (see information about BIPs)
• University of Groningen: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
• University of Göttingen: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (for BIPs) or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (other courses)
• University of Tartu: Application instructions for students at the University of Tartu
• Uppsala University: Application instructions for students at Uppsala University.

Johann Fischer This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.