Ruolytė, Rūta

This article analyzes the position of disabled students in the lithuanian higher education institutions. The lithuanian national legislation guarantees equal opportunities for disabled people to study in higher education institutions. however, in practice disabled students face various problems and barriers while pursuing their education. using anthony Giddens’s structuration theory and the paradigm of social participation, this article presents some data from rūta ruolytė-Verschoore’s doctoral research. to analyze 32 semi-structured interviews with disabled students actively involved in leadership activities, the author uses grounded theory. The research results demonstrate that students with disabilities encounter the following obstacles in the lithuanian higher education institutions: a lack of access to physical and informational environment, a lack of flexibility in study organization process, the absence of special services and academic community’s skeptical attitude towards their abilities to study. The research also shows that civically engaged disabled students orient their strategies of action towards changing academic community’s attitudes and making study organization process more flexible. as a consequence of disabled students’ actions and interactions, study routine and institutional practices in higher education institutions start to change and become more inclusive and flexible.

New religions in post-communist countries are diverse, and though they are often obscured by misunderstanding and mystification in the eyes of ordinary citizens. Lithuania, which is theoretically a secular country, generally holds an attitude of mistrust towards new religious movements (NRMs). Thus a scientific analysis of NRMs is necessary to remove the veils of mystification and mistrust. Milda Alisauskiene has written her doctoral dissertation on NRMs in Lithuania. Specific attention is given to the context of religion within post-communist and, especially, Lithuanian societies. In general, the topic of new religions is an important topic in the arena of research on Lithuanian religiosity. The Art of Living Foundation, which legally established itself in the country in 2006, was utilized as a case study for her dissertation, the first time a Lithuanian scholar has researched this group. The dissertation raised the following questions: What is modern religion? How is religiosity constructed in Western and post-communist societies? What are the primary similarities and differences?[...]

Lithuanian laws establish that any higher educational establishment provides conditions for a disabled student to study, and the right to studying is granted to any high school graduate. Disabled students of higher educational establishments encounter problems such as physical inaccessibility of the environment, a lack of adapted training and educational materials (literature in braille, audio books, etc.), the living environment (dormitories) is not adapted for their specific needs, the need of assistants, a negative attitude of some members of the academic community. The aim of this survey is to identify the type of a Counseling Center for Disabled Students which would be a solution for the problems related to disabled students. The quantitative survey has been performed including interviews with experts exposed to the disabled as well as disabled students. Both the disabled students and experts expressed a positive attitude towards the establishment of the Counseling Center for Disabled Students as a unit of a higher educational establishment to be initiated by a higher establishment itself together with the Ministry of Education and Science and organizations of the disabled. The Center would be of major importance to the following target groups: disabled students of higher educational establishments and schools, parents of the disabled of high schools, the management of a high school, disabled employees of a higher educational establishment, parents of disabled students and teachers of higher educational establishments; the Center would communicate information, provide counseling services and engage in satisfying the special needs of disabled students.[...].