B – Assistive Technology Issues

Who would contribute Currently

Possible criteria to and implement available?
policy decisions? (Yes/No)

Assistive technology is supported across the

organisation on all sites.

There is consultation on the procurement of

assistive technologies (e.g. networking or
compatibility issues).

Assistive software licensing is up to date.

USB ports are easily available to the user.

C – Training and Support Investments

Who would contribute Currently
Possible criteria to and implement available?
policy decisions? (Yes/No)

Technical support staff are trained in disability

awareness.

Technical support staff are trained in the

implications of the Disability Discrimination Act
and Disability Equality Duty.
Technical staff receive appropriate training in the
assistive technologies they are expected to
support.
External support mechanisms (e.g. helplines,
Regional Support Centres, liaison groups etc) are in
place to help with assistive technology difficulties.

Support staff are trained in the use of assistive

technology.

Disabled learners are trained in the use of the

assistive technology provided.

Conclusion But organisations should have a plan, a time frame and

An organisation that implemented all the measures
above would be a long way towards providing equity
for disabled learners. In the process they would benefit
many other learners. Different organisations will come
up with different ways of implementing the criteria
above - and different timescales for implementation.
clearly identified stakeholders for improving the
accessibility of their IT infrastructures to learners. It is
hoped that the guidance provided here and the more
detailed guidance by TechDis and AbilityNet (see
www.techdis.ac.uk/gettechnical) will help move
this process forward.

© TechDis 2006 Page 5

 The Higher Education Academy Building
Innovation Way
York Science Park
York YO10 5BR

Tel: 01904 717580

Fax: 01904 717505

www.techdis.ac.uk helpdesk@techdis.ac.uk

© TechDis 2006 Page 6

 Accessibility Advice for Network
Managers and Technicians
www.techdis.ac.uk/gettechnical
Part 1 – opportunities and challenges
The work of technical support teams has a wide
ranging impact on the learner’s experience. The ease
with which a learner can access curriculum
resources, information and software can be a
significant component of their success. For learners
with particular access needs, the technical support
can make the difference between accessing the
curriculum or being largely excluded. This briefing
consists of three parts:
◗ An overview of four key areas where technical
teams have specific contributions to the
organisation’s ability to meet the requirements of
the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) and the
Disability Equality Duty.
◗ An accessibility audit document to guide the
process of identifying areas of responsibility and
co-dependency.
◗ An online resource providing more detailed
guidance on the themes covered in the overview.
Quick wins
It is possible to improve accessibility without major
investments of time or money. Clearly wider reaching
and more substantial benefits can be obtained by
investing appropriately but there are a number of
‘quick wins’ that most organisations can make with
relatively little effort. These are outlined below:
Virtual Learning Environment or Intranet
Accessibility Statements
Most organisations now have an accessibility
statement on their external facing website. This is
TechDis, The Higher Education Academy Building, Innovation Way, York Science Park, York YO10 5BR.
Tel: 01904 717580 Fax: 01904 717505. helpdesk@techdis.ac.uk. www.techdis.ac.uk
© TechDis 2006 TechDis is an advisory service of JISC, the Joint Information Systems Committee
good practice but research by TechDis suggests that
this is not always as useful for users as it could be.
Our recommendations are as follows:
◗ Both the external facing site and the Virtual
Learning Environment (VLE) / Intranet should have
clearly signposted accessibility information.
◗ The information should be of direct use for learners
– for example knowing how to change the size,
colour or style of text is more useful than being told
a site is ‘Bobby compliant’.
◗ The information should contain contact details for
named people who can help where specific
accessibility issues arise.
◗ The information should signal resources that might
cause difficulties for specific access needs. For
example, a blind learner may prefer to be told that a
particular resource is inaccessible to a screen
reader than waste half an hour finding out for
themselves. Where resources of limited accessibility
are used it is good practice to provide a contact
person who could help provide the learning
objectives a different way.
More information – see TechDis/AbilityNet article at
www.techdis.ac.uk/gettechnical
Inclusion and Support Team Help Request
Mechanisms
Where there are clear links from the VLE/Intranet to
the services available to learners it is more likely a
learner will use them. Online help requests have the
advantages of convenience and privacy. Some
organisations have created an online database
Page 1
 service of available assistive technologies and services.
The learners can find what hardware and software
the college has available on which campus site, how
to request it and how to access training.
More information – see TechDis/AbilityNet article at
www.techdis.ac.uk/gettechnical
Personalising the User Experience
Many learners like to personalise their view of the
screen. For some the ability to personalise the font
sizes, colours or styles has a big impact on their
productivity – even to the point of including or
excluding them from learning.
Personalisation can be achieved in a range of ways.
At the very simplest level this could include a
browser based plug-in that allows users to quickly
alter the browser settings. These are available
commercially at reasonable rates or you could try the
free TechDis toolbar available from the TechDis
website at www.techdis.ac.uk/gettoolbar
(please note that the TechDis toolbar only works on
Internet Explorer). At the other end of the scale,
roaming profiles provides a high level of
personalisation. Between these ends of the spectrum
lie a number of approaches to providing different
degrees of user personalisation.
More information – see TechDis/AbilityNet article at
www.techdis.ac.uk/gettechnical
“The ease with which a learner can
access curriculum resources,
information and software can be a
significant component of their
success”
Text to Speech
Dyslexic learners often form the single biggest group
of learners with specific accessibility needs. For many,
text to speech can provide a very effective way of
accessing information. Text to speech programmes
range in price and functionality from free software
with good, basic functionality (see TechDis website
article at http://www.techdis.ac.uk/index.php?
p=3_7_3) through to high specification commercial
packages. Different organisations will make different
procurement decisions but often these are based on
limited information on the range of products available
and their different implications for networking and
licensing. By involving technical teams in the decision
making process it is possible to provide a better mix
of provision.
More information – see TechDis/AbilityNet article at
www.techdis.ac.uk/gettechnical
© TechDis 2006
Integrating user needs with security
For most technical teams, security is one of the
biggest issues in their risk assessment; systems tend
to be locked down to minimise security risks.
Increasingly, though, the balance of risks is changing.
A system that is locked down for security may be
less personaliseable for a learner with specific
access needs. Disability legislation has encouraged
disabled people to raise their sights and be more
ambitious about education and career choices,
confident that they will get the support they need.
Systems that lack flexibility may avoid security risks
but may be more exposed to disability litigation. New
risk assessments need to look broadly at both
software and policy systems that balance learner’s
right to reasonable adjustment with the learner’s
right to secure, reliable IT services.
More information – see TechDis/AbilityNet article at
www.techdis.ac.uk/gettechnical
VLEs and learning platforms
Most colleges have invested substantially in their
learning platforms – whether VLEs, Intranets or
bespoke systems. Two areas where technical staff
have a potential influence include the following:
◗ Accessibility and usability issues – most
learning platforms have accessibility imperfections.
These vary in terms of their impact on learners but
in some cases there are options within the
software to change settings or allow learners the
possibility of changing their own. The technical
team may need advice from the learning support
department or indeed from disabled learners
directly. It is better to seek this advice proactively.
In a worst case scenario an organisation will have
better litigation defence from active policies than a
‘hope for the best’ approach.
◗ e-Resource guidance for teaching staff –
digital resources are almost always more flexible
than their paper-based alternatives so a key feature
of an organisation’s accessibility policy should
include encouraging staff to create e-resources.
Technical teams can encourage this with reliable
learning platforms with easy upload mechanisms.
Conversely, teaching staff can be discouraged if the
quality control measures for online materials are
more stringent than those for traditional resources.
This will probably necessitate two levels of
accessibility guidance – one for teaching staff
without technical skills and one for technically
skilled e-learning developers.
Page 2
 Training and support for technical teams
If technical support teams are to make best use of
their skills they need to be fully integrated into the
core business of the organisation – teaching and
learning. This can be achieved in a range of ways -
joint training sessions with teaching staff on
e-learning, technical staff attached to subject areas
or technical staff sent on e-learning related courses,
for example wikis, blogs, mobile learning, Flash
content etc. By involving technical support staff in
teaching and learning issues they can better
understand the link between their expertise and the
learner experience. From an accessibility perspective
three further areas of training stand out:
◗ General disability awareness training to understand
the issues facing disabled learners and the role
technical teams can play in supporting a range of
accessibility needs.
◗ Training on disability legislation and the steps
technical support teams might take in reducing the
organisation’s risk exposure.
◗ Training for supporting assistive technologies – e.g.
screen readers, text to speech, magnification
software, alternative input devices etc.

Part 2 - An accessibility audit for identifying areas of

responsibility and co-dependency.
The checklist below indicates a range of areas where
the technical team might legitimately have a role in
supporting accessibility. Whether that role is
proactive, reactive or non-existent may depend on a
number of factors to do with staffing structures,
expertise and organisational cultures. These will vary
from organisation to organisation.
Critically, however, all the themes covered below
are relevant to the learning experience of disabled
learners and without appropriate input from the
technical teams, some learners may be placed at a
significant disadvantage as a result of their
disabilities.

A - System Wide Accessibility Issues

Customising the way users interact with software and hardware
Who would contribute Currently
Possible criteria to and implement available?
policy decisions? (Yes/No)

Microsoft® Windows inbuilt accessibility features

are easy to get to.

Users can customise settings (colours, contrast

and fonts) for Microsoft® Windows without
needing to re-customise for every new session.

The ability to customise settings is promoted to

users.

Where required, roaming profiles can be set up to

meet specific user needs.

Users can access inbuilt handwriting recognition

via the Microsoft® Language Bar.

Users can bring their own laptops and plug them

into the network.

Users can bring their own assistive technology and

plug it into the network.

© TechDis 2006 Page 3

 Fostering learner independence
Who would contribute Currently
Possible criteria to and implement available?
policy decisions? (Yes/No)

Learners have an induction to college learning

platform / VLE / Intranet.

The induction signposts the accessibility

opportunities available on the systems.

The learning platform / VLE / Intranet has

user-focused accessibility guidance.

Online accessibility guidance provides contact

details for learners to access appropriate support
when they have difficulties.

Learners can download resources to a portable

storage medium.

Learners can access learning materials from

home.

Learners have online access to information on

assistive technologies available in the organisation.

Ensuring audio support is available to learners

Who would contribute Currently
Possible criteria to and implement available?
policy decisions? (Yes/No)

Sound cards are available and active on most

machines.

Headphone sockets are easily reached.

Text to speech engines (eg SAPI 4 or 5) are

installed across the network.

Basic (e.g. freeware or browser-ware) text to

speech software is available across network.

“By involving technical teams in the

decision making process it is possible
to provide a better mix of provision”

© TechDis 2006 Page4