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UCL Library Services is committed to ensuring that users with a disability are able to take full advantage of our facilities and are not disadvantaged in any way.

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Short page

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When we talk about disabilities, we are talking about all kinds of conditions from sensory impairments, mobility problems, mental health issues and other long-term conditions.

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Staff case studies - different from the empty student one

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SSW site; 9 sections

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UCL welcomes applications from disabled students. Our aim is to promote and implement an inclusive learning and teaching environment, allowing students to study as independently as possible during their time at UCL. This page provides information on the support available for students with learning difficulties, disabilities and long-term health conditions.

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6 sections

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This website provides useful guidance for UCL staff seeking information about accessibility issues at UCL.

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ISD page

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The Disability IT Support webpages provide information, and access to advice and resources, for all staff and students at UCL who have identified that they have a disability, or an ergonomic need, and require support with IT. They also aim to provide guidance to managers and academic staff, about the provisions they should make for disabled staff and students.

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EDI site; 13 section

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Office of the President and Provost (Equality, Diversity & Inclusion)

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Office of the President and Provost (Equality, Diversity & Inclusion)

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Short page; incomplete - doesn't tell you how...

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If you are Deaf* or have a disability, the best way to access the support you need is to declare it - in confidence.

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Same as other

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A selection of useful links for disabled staff and managers

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Incomplete

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What you should consider before attending a UCL event

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Considerations for people visiting UCL, find out if the room you'll be visiting has access limitation, and who you could contact for support

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Guidance, considerations and resources to support staff in planning accessible events at UCL

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Information about accessibility of the physical environment at UCL.

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(Actually there aren't any)

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A selection of useful links for disabled staff and managers

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ACCESSIBILITY OF THE DIGITAL ENVIRONMENT

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ACCESSIBILITY OF THE DIGITAL ENVIRONMENT

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Long page; could do with reworking

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Information about the digital environment at UCL, covering e-learning, web accessibility, assistive software and more.

Accessibility of the digital environment

UCL website information should be accessible using assistive technology, like JAWS (Job Access With Speech), NVDA (Non Visual Desktop Access), ZoomText, and Dragon Naturally Speaking and TextHelp Read and Write. You should also be able to use your operating system's speech recognition software and screen magnifiers.

We strive to achieve level AA of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0.

Please give us feedback on how accessible our websites are for you, so that we can keep improving them. You can contact the UCLservicedesk with any accessibility issues you encounter on UCL websites.

Modify your computer, web browser and use other assistive technologies

We recommend you access the BBC My Web My Way website, for information on how you can modify your computer and web browser and use specialist assistive technology, to best suit your needs.

Supported web browsers and accessibility settings

Certain software and databases used at UCL are browser specific and your department will inform you of these requirements. Moodle and departmental websites should work correctly on the following web browsers - click on each link below for further information about how to enable accessibility features for each of these web browsers:

Making your font size bigger

You can change the text size in your browser by using the keyboard shortcut keys Ctrl+ (Control-Plus) to zoom in and Ctrl- (Control-Minus) to zoom out on Windows computers. On an Apple Mac you can use the Option-Command key instead of the Control key to do the same thing.

Web browser plugins

You can install plugins to help you to improve your web browsing experience.

OpenDyslexic is a font that can make it easier for some people with dyslexia to read. You can install a plugin to display web page text in this font on some web browsers.

Software

UCL staff and students have access to software that can help everyone to study, including those with disabilities. Most of the following software is available for use on Desktop@UCL and some of it can also be installed on your own computer. Please check the availability on the UCL software database (login required).

Assistive technology guides explain how to install and use software that is free or licensed for use by UCL staff and students.

Network licenced software

TextHelp Read and Write: combines a screen reader, highlighter & literacy support for dyslexic students in particular.

Inspiration: visualise ideas using mind maps with images & colour codes.

Free software

Screen readers

Balabolka: read aloud or save text to a sound file so you can listen to it later.

Orato: have your text read out loud and read along with word highlighting.

NVDA: screen reader with advanced options (a free alternative to JAWS).

Coloured Overlay

Ss Overlay: add a colour overlay to the screen with customisable transparency.

Magnifying glass

Mind mapping

XMind: mind mapping software to help plan ideas, outline essays and arrange projects

If you are a student with a disability you can contact UCL's Student Support and Wellbeing team for software and support. Through them you can also join a network of disabled students across UCL.

Document downloads

PDF (Portable Document Format) files and other documents, such as Word and PowerPoint files, should be accessible. This means images which convey meaning should have alternative (alt) text and accurate heading levels should be used to convey the semantic structure of the document. If this is not the case, please do raise this with the author of the document or the UCL service desk.

You can convert a PDF into an editable format by using the facility built into Word. You click 'Open' and then pull the drop-down menu to select 'PDF files' from the bottom right menu. Browse to your file and click open. After a while it will give you a message saying that it will convert the file to an editable version.

Download all files in one go

If you need to download multiple files (such as your lecture notes from a Moodle page), you can do this in one go, rather than individually using a browser plugin. Here are some plugins for popular web browsers:

Alternative formats

If you need to convert a file into another accessible format you can use SensusAccess. You can convert and combine files of various formats into e-books, text files, audio or braille.

Moodle, UCL's Virtual Learning Environment

Every taught module at UCL has a Moodle course (that might cover an entire programme). These courses are expected to meet the UCL E-Learning Baseline, which includes meeting accessibility standards.

Moodle allows you to hide the blocks to minimise clutter and switch from standard view (good for reading) to full screen mode (good for viewing the Gradebook). You can also dock blocks to the left of the page (using the top, right icon in every block) for easy access whenever you need them. Docked blocks will remain in place as you scroll up and down the page.

Moodle can also be viewed on mobile devices, however, not all the functionality is available in mobile view. You can switch to desktop view by choosing 'request desktop site' in your mobile browser settings and then zoom in and out to access all Moodle features.

Modifying your computer to suit your needs

Modifications can be made to make your screen more accessible. Built in to both Mac and PC there are Ease of Access or Accessibility tools in the operating system.

Change the colours in your web browser

We've tried to use colours on Moodle that make the content easier to read, but we know that some people have trouble reading text on particular colours. You may be able to use your own colours with your browser. This will help with reading other websites as well.

Images

Images that convey meaning and are not merely there for decoration should contain a description that is read aloud to screen readers. If you do come across an image that conveys meaning and does not have adequate alternative text for screen readers please raise this with the servicedesk.

Links

Links should describe the page or document they open. This helps people to scan the text and quickly identify what the link is for. It is particularly important for visually impaired users who rely on screen readers to read out link text to easily navigate. Links that only say 'click here...' or 'more...' without further description are difficult for everyone to use and should be reported to the service desk so they can be updated.

Videos at UCL

You can download a best practice guide called ' How to subtitle education materials at UCL 2018'.

YouTube videos will have automatic closed captioning that can be enabled for those who would like to read what is spoken. These can be edited by anyone if community contributions are enabled. This lets everyone contribute to improving their accuracy for the benefit of all. If you see inaccurate captions you could ask the author of the video to enable this setting to let you edit them. The person who uploaded the video will need to approve these before they are published to others.

Other videos (such as those in Lecturecast) may have captions too, although this requires the department to pay for a service to add these manually, so many will not have them unless they are required by students with particular needs. The Translation and Media Accessibility Services (TraMAS) team within the UCL Centre for Translation Studies (CenTraS) offer a subtitling service.

UCL MediaCentral is the UCL online video portal. It supports closed captioning, but unlike with YouTube they are not automatically generated, and similarly to Lecturecast, a department will need to pay for the subtitling service and upload the captions file separately.

If you require captions for a particular disability you can also discuss your requirements with the UCL Student Support and Wellbeingteam.

Support available

UCL students can contact the Student Support and Wellbeing team for further information about registering and the support available for disabled students at UCL.

Registered disabled students can ask for accessible copies of documents from the UCL Library's Teaching and Learning Services.

UCL staff can contact their departmental DSE assessor for an assessment to ensure their work station is appropriate for their needs. For other information and guidance staff can also look at the following webpages.

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Accessibility of the digital environment

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Information about the digital environment at UCL, covering e-learning, web accessibility, assistive software and more. UCL website information should be accessible using assistive technology, like JAWS (Job Access With Speech), NVDA (Non Visual Desktop Access), ZoomText, and Dragon Naturally Speaking and TextHelp Read and Write.

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8 sections; missing newsfeed

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UCL (University College London) is London's leading multidisciplinary university, with 8,000 staff and 25,000 students.