E-Accessibility
The University of the West of Scotland is committed to ensuring that all students have equal opportunity in accessing information and resources. The Special Educational Needs and Disability Act 2001 (SENDA) requires the University to ensure that this commitment extends to all resources whether printed or electronic. For further information on the requirement of the Act see the Enabling Support Website
The University has created guidelines to help staff ensure that any information created is accessible to all, including those with disabilities. These guidelines include general advice but will point you to a number of other useful external resources that offer more detailed advice.
University of The West of Scotland Accessibility Guidelines
Many students suffering from disabilities such as dyslexia or visual impairment often find it much easier to access information electronically. Technology can be an enabler to learning particularly for people whose manual dexterity and mobility prevents them from using a standard mouse and/or keyboard or where a visual impairment can be overcome by the use of a specific software application. Thus, the university has invested in new assistive technologies and software to enable students to access electronic materials more easily. However, the full potential of these technologies can only be realised if those supplying the information follow some simple general rules. Very often, this may just require some simple, reasonable adjustments being made, such as making the information available in other formats so that students with a particular disability can access the information. In some situations it may require more than that and in others it may just require a greater awareness on the part of the information provider to think about the difficulties that someone with a disability may have in reading and accessing the information.
There are various resources that we can access to gain further information on making our materials more accessible. The following are a few helpful links.
For general information on creating accessible learning and teaching resources see:
The Scottish Disability Team website
The Higher Education Academy website
For Accessibility and E-learning see:
Techdis - UK National Advisory Service on Disability, Technology and Learning
Website: www.techdis.ac.uk
To make your website more accessible see:
Website: Website: Dive into Accessibility
World Wide Web Consortium’s Web Accessibility Initiative – resources and advice on web accessibility
Website: www.w3.org/WAI
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines:
Website: www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/