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The Documentary; The Education of Ashif Jaffer

The Documentary: The Education of Ashif Jaffer

The Education of Ashif Jaffer

13/08/2011

BBC World Service - The Documentary, The Education of Ashif Jaffer

Can a young Canadian man with Down's Syndrome get a university degree?

Ashif Jaffer has Down's Syndrome, and is breaking new ground by doing a degree at Toronto's Ryerson University.

Every day Ashif Jaffer heads out to Toronto's Ryerson University, satchel in hand and makes his way to a seminar classroom. 

By his very presence in that classroom, he is breaking new ground. 

Ashif  Jaffer has Down's Syndrome.  

Until not so long ago, the idea of a student with Down's Syndrome in a university was unthinkable.  

After all, how could a person with an intellectual disability belong in a place built for higher learning?   

The gates to the universities have widened considerably, to include people with a wide range of physical and learning disabilities, and schools also provide all kinds of support to make that possible. 

But intellectual disabilities present a conundrum.

Some Canadian universities and colleges have welcomed people with Down's Syndrome - but only to audit individual courses or participate in special programs. 

Ashif Jaffer wants to change that. 

He's now registered in one course but his dream - and his mother's dream - is for a full university education and the degree that goes with it.

Ashif's story is about testing limits - his own and the university's. 

Produced and Presented by Alisa Siegal for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

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