Board of the Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages
Policy Statement on Disabilities and Compliance with SENDA
See also: http://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/eop/disab/ Further information from the University's Disabilities Office.
The Medieval and Modern Languages Faculty Board is committed to the principle of equality of opportunity for all staff and students. It is concerned in particular to make all reasonable provision within the university for Modern Languages students with disabilities so that they may participate in all Modern Languages courses without disadvantage, as outlined by the Special Educational Needs and Disability Act 2001 (SENDA).
SENDA requires the Faculty Board to review and make adequate provision not only for the needs of present students, but also for the probable needs of future students and candidates for admission, at undergraduate and postgraduate level. For undergraduates, the Faculty Board recognises the primary responsibility of the college tutor or director of studies to co-ordinate a student's studies, alerting the Faculty Board and individual tutors to any needs as necessary. However, the Faculty Board also recognises its duty to aid college tutors in this area, and to facilitate the co-ordination of provision by different bodies within the university. For postgraduates, the Faculty Board recognises the primary responsibility of the supervisor to co-ordinate the student's studies as above.
To this end, in view of the recommendations contained in the 'Guidelines for Colleges and Departments on SENDA' from the Educational Policy and Standards Committee Working Party on SENDA, the Faculty Board will:
1. Monitor compliance with SENDA, via reports from the Disabilities Contact Officer and the sub-faculties at meetings of the board's General Purposes Committee during Michaelmas and Trinity Terms, and will make appropriate recommendations to the Faculty Board as necessary.
2. Continue its existing policy of having a named disabilities contact officer (currently the Faculty Board Secretary), who will advise colleges on help, and channel information about actual or potential students to colleges, sub-faculties, libraries and the Language Centre.
3. Require each of the Sub-faculties to review each year during Michaelmas Term those courses, curricula, and regulations for which they have responsibility, and to report back in their minutes any pertinent changes to the Board, in the light of the principles laid down by SENDA. Sub-faculties will ensure that no new course specifications create barriers to disabled students, and that alternative arrangements are available for any problematic areas of existing requirements.
4. Remove any potential barriers to learning in lectures, classes and tutorials through the following measures:
(i) by recommending that all teachers take due account of the university guidelines for handouts concerning font sizes and styles, coloured paper etc., and observe the specific provisions recommended for classes attended by visually disabled students (see appendix 1).
(ii) the alteration of buildings occupied by the faculty in order to facilitate access (subject to the availability of funding).
(iii) Equipping teaching rooms with an induction loop system for the hearing-impaired (subject to the availability of funding).
(iv) the timetabling wherever possible of lectures, classes and seminars in venues and at times accessible for wheelchair users who give reasonable notice of their intention to attend (see appendix 2).
(v) The provision of syllabus reading-lists in a variety of formats on request (see appendix 3).
5. The provision in a variety of formats of the faculty prospectus, handbooks for students, and similar documents used by current and prospective students (see appendix 3).
6. Recognise as good practice the establishing of co-ordinated provision for students with a disability at an early stage whether or not a Student Support Document is required. If required, the SSD will be drawn up by a college tutor for an undergraduate or the Faculty supervisor for a graduate student, in the months immediately before the student begins their course, in consultation with Disability Services and the Faculty's disabilities contact officer.
7. Encourage college tutors and Faculty supervisors to make early contact with the Proctors to ensure provision is made for fair treatment in examinations or other assessment.
8. Provide for distribution to new students a document detailing the provision made by the Faculty for students with disabilities.
9. Review admissions documents, open days, etc. to ensure that the Faculty's commitment to equal opportunities for students with disabilities is communicated to prospective candidates.
APPENDIX 1: Clear Print Guidelines
| Guidelines | Reasons |
|---|---|
| Provide typed overheads and handouts. | Typed script is easier to read for everyone. |
| Use a sans serif font, e.g. Arial. | These fonts are plainer and easier to read. |
| Use at least 14 pt. Print on handouts and 24 on OHPs. | Many students find larger print easier to read, including students with vision impairments, dyslexia and concentration problems. |
| Avoid using red and green ink/chalk at all times. | Students who are colour-blind will find these impossible to read. Green is the hardest colour for people with vision impairments to read. |
| Ensure there is a good contrast between the background colours of handouts and OHPs and the foreground (text) colour. | Dark text on a light background or light text on a dark background are the easiest to see. For example, white text on a blue background or black text on pale yellow works well. |
| Provide handouts on coloured paper. | Black print on white paper can create a lot of glare. Both students with dyslexia and vision impairments may benefit from having handouts printed on pastel coloured paper. |
| Avoid using glossy paper. | Material printed on a matt finish paper is easier to read and creates less eye strain. |
| Print text on a plain background. | Printing text on a patterned background can often obscure the text and make it difficult to read. |
| Use Bold text for headings and avoid faint text at all times. | Bold text is often easier to read for those with vision impairments. |
| Avoid CAPITALISATION and Underlining. | People with dyslexia often recognise words by the patterns they form. Capitalisation removes all word patterns as all letters are the same height making words more difficult to recognise. Underlining can often make text run together, again making it difficult to read. |
| Avoid the use of italics or text at an angle. | Text in italics is often difficult for people with vision impairments and dyslexia to read. |
| If writing in pen for a student with vision impairment, use a black medium tip pen or a felt tip pen. | Black pen is often easier to read, as it provides a good contrast and is usually darker than a blue pen. |
| Leave plenty of space between columns of text. | If columns are placed too close together then it can be difficult for some students to realise that a column exists. |
| Leave plenty of white space on handouts. | Cramming too much information onto OHPs or slides makes them difficult to read. Everyone benefits from having some white space on a page. |
| Have no more than six bullet points on any OHP or slide. | This allows for well-spaced, easy to read information. |
| Try to have only one topic per slide. | Having one topic per slide makes overheads easier to follow. |
| Provide written descriptions from and/or a tactile version of important diagrams and pictures. | Students with dyslexia benefit from the use of diagrams. However, students with vision impairments will need this information presented in an alternative way. |
| Left justify text and leave the right margin jagged. | This makes it easier to follow the lines of the text for people with dyslexia. |
| Avoid starting a new sentence at the end of a line. | Students with dyslexia can find this difficult to follow. |
| Students can then receive the information in their preferred format. | Short simple text is easier to read and understand. |
| Avoid wrapping text around diagrams if it means that lines of text will start in a different position. | This can make lines of text difficult to read. |
| Use headings and page numbering consistently. | This allows people with vision impairments to navigate around the material easily. |
APPENDIX 2: Reasonable notice
Staff and students need reasonable notice of lectures, classes and seminars which students with disabilities wish to attend, so that venues and times may be planned appropriately given the constraints of the Faculty buildings and Schools.
Reasonable notice means that wherever possible:
1. For teaching in the Michaelmas Term, the Faculty Office will send out to students with the relevant declared disabilities a provisional schedule by the end of Week 8 of the preceding Trinity Term. Students concerned will then be expected to give notice to the faculty of their intention to attend particular lectures, classes and seminars by the Friday of Week 10 of Trinity Term.
2. For teaching in the Hilary and Trinity Terms, students are expected to consult the lecture list and handbook at the start of the preceding term, and to give notice to the faculty of their intention to attend particular lectures, classes and seminars by the end of Week 2 in the preceding term.
APPENDIX 3: Accessible Formats
The faculty is committed to providing key documentation in a variety of formats accessible by prospective candidates and current students with disabilities. To this end it will:
1. Keep its prospectus, handbooks and syllabus reading-lists for students on the web.
2. Provide large-print format of any Faculty document within a period of 7 working days.
3. Provide a Braille copy of any Faculty document within a reasonable period of time as advised by staff at computer services.
4. Provide a taped copy of any Faculty document within a period of 21 working days.
5. Consider the ease of providing documentation in accessible formats when drawing up and producing new texts. To this end, copies or versions of any document will normally be held by the faculty office in Microsoft Word, or such other format as advised by the computing services.
See also: http://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/eop/disab/ for further information from the University's Disabilities Office