What is Accessible Campus?
An accessible campus ensures every student has the equal chance to access the resources she/he needs for education. That means, no matter what characteristics such as gender, disability, race, ethnicity, age etc. students have, the school provides various ways of teaching and designs courses in an inclusive way for them, while not compromising academic rigor. Another important trait Accessible Campus is physically accessible with the help of modern technology, such as the elevators.
University of Waterloo: What is our commitment to accessibility? How do we build an accessible campus?
1. University’s Commitment to the Accessibility
The University of Waterloo is committed to achieving barrier free accessibility for persons with disabilities studying, visiting and/or working at Waterloo. Waterloo stands by their Principles of Inclusivity which were created to acknowledge, communicate, and promote an understanding of the complexity and uniqueness of the University of Waterloo’s campus community, presenting the ideals by which campus members should engage one another – with respect, sensitivity, and fairness.
2. How UWaterloo is making our campus accessible with modern technology
The University ensures that accessibility is covered in all areas to provide support for both students and staff. The following technologies recommended by Accessibility Service are the top-most used by the University especially during this pandemic:
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Kurzwell 3000: One of the most reliable and popular screen readers that is used by Accessibility Services at UWaterloo. It offers users a client app, which will read almost anything on their computer screen such as extensions for all mainstream browsers that will read web content for users, and google doc extension, which will read online google documents. Kurzwell 3000 can even identify the content of pdf documents that are hard to read (Poor image quality, or bad scanning angle etc.) and read them out.
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Otter.ai: An instant recognition software that transcribes speech as written text. Students with hearing impairment can easily catch onto the content of the spoken lecture.
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Livescribe Smart Pen: A normal writing pen, with a smart digital system inside that will record what is written and can be uploaded to a computer if used with the Anoto digital paper with the audio it records. Therefore, users can tap on the text they wrote and replay what audio was recorded with that text.
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Microsoft OneNote and Word: OneNote not only offers note taking, but also audio recording. What makes it special is that the notes are easily organized, and the audio recording is paired with the notes you take. For example, if you type “anything” while recording on your note, you can play that recording when you review “anything” later. The notes will be synchronized to OneDrive, and can be accessed anywhere, on almost any device. Accessibility Services is promoting taking notes on OneDrive since it is highly connected and organized, it creates accessibility for everyone at the university.
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Student Technology Lab: Located at 1401 Needles Hall, the Student Technology Lab offers a variety of assistive software and hardware for students.
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Adaptive equipment loan program: The university also provides take-home equipment that ensures students with special needs can study anywhere, even if they are not on campus or they do not have the correct assistive equipment off campus.
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Faculty Module in the AccessAbility Service’s online system: This powerful online system allows instructors to adjust and manage their course accommodations. They will have access to see the status of the students who request accommodations and receive real-time updates to accommodation plans to ensure that all the students who need accommodation are well arranged. Students can also apply for accommodations and update their needs anytime throughout the term with the help of this system.
Conclusion
A true accessible campus is accessible for everyone at the University, and technology plays a crucial role in achieving this. Visit Accessibility Services for more information or come to 1401 Needles Hall for a visit. You are always welcomed by the UWaterloo Accessibility Service.
Sources
https://uwaterloo.ca/accessibility/accessibility-classroom
https://uwaterloo.ca/accessibility/accessibility-workplace
