The times they are a-changing
Impending changes to Disabled Student Allowances in England could result in large numbers of students – particularly dyslexic students – relying on the mainstream accessibility practices of your organisation. We’re working hard to help you be efficient and effective in rising to that challenge.
What we’ve done
Accessibility is best done holistically and we’ve taken the same approach in supporting the sector, working both strategically and practically. This has included:
- Listening to concerns. We visited 4 universities to speak to library and disability staff, consulted with accessibility specialists in HE like NADP, and the CLAUD and Open Rose groups. Via webinars and follow up emails we have engaged with some 60 – 80 institutions.
- Responding to requests. From the consultations some very clear pictures emerged. You asked us to:
- Help make expertise in HE less fragmented.
- Empower library staff to make better use of changes to Copyright Legislation, making more accessible books more readily available.
- Provide detailed guidance so that responsibility for accessibility could be more effectively owned across an HEI.
- Provide “Top Tips” quick guides for key roles.
- Create staff/student friendly guidance on free and built in assistive technologies.
In subsequent postings we’ll bring you up to date with specific progress and give you a chance to comment on what we’ve done and how it could support you – or indeed how it could be improved.
Alistair McNaught