Functions and competences of people with disabilities in the context of training fashion designers

Abstract

The article proves the possibility and expediency of using the matrix structure of competences to form
the content of teaching people with disabilities in the process of training fashion designers. The combined use
of the International Classification of Functions, Defects and Health, as well as the requirements of the Higher
Education Standard for the specialty 182 "Light Industry", allowed us to form a system of descriptors which
includes both the general descriptors recommended by the standard and the European Commission and the
descriptors suggested by international standards for people with disabilities. The article identifies the main
functions of the specialist in the field of the light industry and design, which in general include design,
technological, managerial and business competence. For people with disabilities, these features need to be
supplemented with additional functions which determine the overall abilities of these people in accordance with
the International Classification of Functions, Defects and Health. As a result of the analysis of functions,
competences and descriptors specific to people with disabilities, a matrix was formed that defines the
peculiarities of their training. In contrast to the well-known Dublin descriptor system, the proposed matrix
includes additional components that take into account the specific capabilities of people with disabilities
determined, first, by their physical mobility and, second, by communication mobility. Such descriptors may,
from the outset, include the use of products and technologies for personal indoor and outdoor transportation,
communication with carers, basic and complex economic relationships, economic independence to determine
competences and learning outcomes in the context of physical mobility. Communication mobility features that
determine the education of people with disabilities may include clarifying the requirements for communication
within formal and informal organizations, services, systems and insurance policies for persons providing
financial support to people with disabilities. In the process of forming a system for training people with
disabilities, the Kharkiv Fashion Cluster platform is actively used in conjunction with the Department of
Technology and Design of Ukrainian Engineering Pedagogics Academy.