Support for accessibility and disability

The following University sites provide information about IT and assistive technology for students and staff as part of an overall remit around accessibility and disability:

• Assistive technology for students
• IT resources for disabled staff
• Digital accessibility

Further advice may be available from department and college contacts such as your department administrator, head of administration & finance, HR team, office manager, academic / college / student office, or your local IT team.

Central services that offer advice in this area include the Disability Advisory Service, Student Welfare and Support Services, Safety Office (including display screen equipment), and the Occupational Health Service.

Third party sites providing accessibility information that might be of interest to students and staff include:

• MWF - Mobile Accessibility (find accessible phones / tablets)

Features supported by default

Our managed staff desktop includes a wide range of accessibility features that are built into the Microsoft Windows 10 operating system.

• Windows 10 ease of access settings
• Microsoft accessibility features and tools
• Office accessibility centre

Software

A wide range of assistive software applications can be supported on our managed staff desktop. You can access web-based applications directly. For applications that need to be installed before use you will need to submit a purchase request (if a license is required) or software installation request (no license required).

Applications that we have installed and appear to work without any problems include:

• Dragon Naturally Speaking

Hardware

Our recommended desktop and laptop PCs support a wide range of accessories that can make them easier to work with. This can include:

• Different sizes of screen
• Screen filters
• Screen mounts and stands
• Mouse alternatives including touchpads, joysticks, rollers
• Keyboards in different shapes, sizes or layouts and with high visibility lettering
• Headsets, speakers and microphones
• Webcams
• Touchscreen, stylus or graphics tablet

We always recommend getting advice first. Once you have agreed something to try, you can place a purchase request through our IT equipment purchasing form (or IT Services purchasing form).

Further guidance

We recommend that staff with a particular concern or requirement seek advice from their department, college or a specialist service in the first instance (see where to get advice). This helps to identify contributory and non-IT factors that may be important in a long-term solution.

Based on the advice provided, we will be happy to help identify suitable software or hardware options.

General advice on assistive software and a list of recommended applications is available from the following sites:

• Assistive technology for students
• IT resources for disabled staff

Links to applicable legislation and standards:

• The Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018
• Directive (EU) 2016/2102 of the European Parliament and of the Council
• Current harmonised standard EN 301 549 V2.1.2 (2018-08)
• Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1

Compliance with WCAG 2.1 AA can be assessed using tools such as WAVE (free, one page at a time) and Silktide (used on UAS sites, fully automated).

Guidance on digital accessibility as a whole, and how to write accessible documents:

• Digital accessibility (UAS communications)
• Creating accessible documents (UAS communications)
• Create accessible PDFs from Word documents (UAS communications)
• Creating accessible handouts and documents (Centre for Teaching and Learning)
• SharePoint Online accessibility guidance (IT Services)
• Accessibility guidance for Lecture Capture / Replay (IT Services)