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Accessing Materials: making appropriate and effective
‘reasonable’ adjustments for print impaired students in
higher education.
Emma Jane Rowlett
The University of Nottingham
PowerPoint Accessibility
• Off-white background and navy blue text
• Large sans serif font (Verdana, min. 28pt font) and increased line spacing
• Key points on slides and read aloud
• Not too much information on each slide
Main Research Question
• “Do Higher Education Institutions make appropriate and effective reasonable adjustments for print impaired students?”
• What I am getting at is that it may be necessary to go beyond compliance with the law to actually meet the real needs of students.
Additional Questions 1
1) What reasonable adjustments do
universities make?
2) What constraints affect the ability of
staff to make appropriate and
effective reasonable adjustments?
3) What issues do students face?
Additional Questions 2
4) What can be done about the answers to questions 2 and 3?
5) What are staff and student attitudes to disability, reasonable adjustments and the idea of moving beyond simple compliance with the law?
Data Collection
• Interviews in Four Universities chosen as contacts already exist– 29 staff
– 14 students
• Email questionnaire via Dis-Forum JiscMail– 7 students
Sampling
• Initial contact with gatekeeper lead to email being sent to students or poster put up in disability service
• Snowball sampling for staff – gatekeepers or participants suggested other people who might be helpful
Areas Covered…
• the disability service
• the alterative formats service
• academic departments
• libraries and IT
• other areas of the university mentioned by students or staff
• informal support from course mates, family and friends
Size of Universities
• University A (2006-7) - 32,000
• University B (2005-6) - 26,000
• University C (2006-7) - 15,500
• University D (2007-8) - 13,000
(Taken from website but rounded to protect
anonymity)
Structure of Universities
• a disability service
• disability service advisers
• disability support workers
• an alternative formats service
• at least one library
Alternative Formats Service 1
• Two positioned within disability service, two within library
• All four universities have someone responsible for alternative formats, might be producing formats themselves or managing disability support workers
Alternative Formats Service 2
• All four universities can produce audio, Braille and large print, as well as printing on colour paper
• Not all formats regularly used
• Three of four universities say they sometimes contract work out, especially large quantities of Braille
Alternative Formats Service 3
• Editable text needed – either electronically, from hard copy or typed in
• Electronic versions may be available on the web, or staff/students may need to contact publishers or authors– Likely to get PDF which needs OCR-ing
and proofreading/error checking
Alternative Formats Service 4
• Scanning and OCR-ing hard copies is more error prone than OCR-ing PDFs and needs more careful checking
• In some cases it is necessary to type in the information to be accessed, particularly if not available electronically and cannot be scanned e.g. poor quality or mathematics
Alternative Formats Service 5
• Those who used this method said it is prone to delays and complications, and often they got no response back at all
• Three of the universities start by contacting publishers/authors, the fourth found this too difficult and time consuming and argued scanning is likely to be quicker
AFS – Problems 1
• Difficulties getting electronic
documents from publishers
– Delays
– Then usually PDFs which need
OCR-ing and proofreading/checking
for errors
AFS – Problems 2
• Issues of copyright, especially if published internationally or for students with dyslexia
• Sometimes necessary to scan in hardcopies of documents– Then must carry out OCR process and
proofread/check for errors
AFS – Problems 3
• Diagrams, graphs, and pictures
– May be ok to just describe in words
– May need simplifying down to
produce as tactile versions using:
swell paper and heat machine,
Tiger Embosser, German paper, etc
AFS – Problems 4
• Producing mathematics is especially problematic– Not always available electronically in a
format that can be used
– Non-standard characters and layout difficult to scan and OCR
– May need typing in by someone who knows maths well
AFS – Problems 5
– Non-linear notation particularly difficult for Braille and audio
– Large print needs retypesetting/reformatting
– Various types of Braille output (e.g. 6 or 8 dot, human readable TeX, maths Braille, etc)
– MathML may be way forward but needs work
AFS - Outcomes
Outcomes
• Delays getting materials to students
• Errors in documents
• Lack of choice of materials
• No documents - for two students, maths text books could not be produced at all as all time and effort went into producing lecture notes instead
Libraries
• I interviewed at least one member of staff from the library at each university
– subject librarians
– library managers
– library and IT managers
• Also asked all students about library access and facilities
Student Attitudes
• Not all students had problems with the library
• Very independent, often did not need staff help
• But did not see libraries as playing a large part in the adjustments made for them
Computer Problems 1
• Accessing ebooks, ejournals, library
catalogue etc…
– Best if web-based then can use assistive
technology at home
– Need to be accessible to screenreaders
– If in library, need to be able to adjust
settings (e.g. colours)
Computer Problems 2
– Ebooks, ejournals etc need to be able to be printed. Does license allow this, are printers available?
– What happens if a student wants large print, … or Braille?
– Does alternative formats service need to deal with this?
Issues Raised by Staff 1
• Staff had more to say than students, but had often been in the university longer than the average student and had been involved with a large number of students over the years
• Some raised issues outside my remit (e.g. relating to wheelchair users) but mentioned here
Issues Raised by Staff 2
• Accessibility of literature (e.g. podcasting)
• The accessibility of self checkout facilities
– Is there an alternative?
• The accessibility of security entrances
– How easy to see, card access, separate
entrances for wheelchairs, desk too
high, staff available to help?
Issues Raised by Staff 3
• Furniture - ergonomics and layout
• Provision of rooms/spaces for certain types of study
• Accessibility of cataloguing system and clarity of labels on books and journals
• Extended library loans
– Three out of four have these
To Discuss…
• Have these issues arisen in your own
transcription service or library?
• If so, how have they been resolved?
• What issues/adjustments would you
add to this list from your own
experience?
