Disability Resource Centre (DRC)

Teaching disabled students: enabling them to participate in lectures, seminars and supervisions

Much of the material in this section is applicable to training courses run for staff as well as to teaching students. Many principles of accessible teaching are not unique to teaching disabled people — their needs are not ‘special’, they are generally identical to those of non-disabled students. For example, they need access to the teaching room, and access to the information that is being presented or discussed — so premises and teaching materials and styles should be well designed or adapted to provide that access.

If you can, please enable course participants to state their needs before it starts. If not, then you could ask the group at the start if they have any support or access needs that you might be able to meet. Don't assume that because there is nobody with an obvious impairment there are no disabled people in the group. If a student does identify some support requirements, and meeting them is feasible, it is important to ensure they are met throughout the course.

If you provide a course outline, or other promotional material, it is helpful if you include details of facilities available (for example good wheelchair access, information in large print or other formats) and of any limits to access.

There is an important role for tutors in educating other student members of seminar groups, so please try and ensure that the strategies suggested in this section are used by everyone. The Disability Resource Centre holds a range of further information on inclusive teaching.

Ground rules

All groups of people employ ground rules when they are interacting. That these are usually unspoken can present particular problems for disabled students. For example, people pick up on body language or inference, but this can be extremely difficult for a student with autism or Asperger Syndrome, which make social communication extremely difficult.

‘Free-for-all’ groups, where students compete to give their view, are difficult for people with a visual impairment who cannot see when a good moment to contribute might be. If you are working regularly with a group it might be appropriate to establish ground rules to make it accessible to disabled participants. An example might be to agree that any hand-outs are produced in a particular size of sans serif font and on cream paper, which is good for people with visual impairments and those with SpLD.

Consistency of times for teaching sessions

Changing the timing of a course or series of lectures, especially at short notice, can present a significant difficulty to disabled students. If they have arranged a support worker for a session that is postponed they may have to pay him/her anyway: in addition the worker may not be available for the rearranged session. Similarly, personal assistance may have been arranged at home to enable the student to attend; this could result in late arrival or missing out on some other assistance that has been arranged.

Students with Asperger Syndrome have difficulty coping with changes at short notice and this can make them extremely uncomfortable. Other students, including people with SpLD, might find personal organisation more difficult, and so changing things around makes it harder for them to be organised.

Handouts and PowerPoint Presentations

PowerPoint presentations are likely to be inaccessible to students with visual impairments. It can be helpful to those students, and to lip-readers, to see any slides in print in advance. Providing handouts in advance in a clear format can often also help students with SpLD with their note taking, as it can show them new words and concepts and importantly, allow them to focus on listening.

Find out what formats your students need and be ready to provide large print, Braille, tape and electronic formats. The last are particularly useful (especially text files) as they give flexibility and choice; a student may be able to produce his/her own Braille, large print or sound file.

Taking notes and recording lectures

Students with most types of impairment are likely to find notetaking difficult. People with mobility, visual or hearing impairment, and people with SpLD, can benefit from being allowed to record lectures and discussions. They should seek your permission; please be willing to give it. Failure to do so contravenes the Disability Discrimination Act (2005).

Seating

For some students, particularly those who might have a mental health problem or Asperger Syndrome, the place where they sit might be very important. This often means the end of a row so that the student doesn't feel trapped. Consistency of seating can also make a student feel more comfortable during a session. People with hearing impairments need to be able to sit where they can lip-read.

Seminars and presentations

Making presentations can be very intimidating, especially for people with a speech impairment, or Asperger Syndrome. Please consider whether a student might be excused from such tasks, or be allowed to make their presentation to a smaller group.

Study skills

Some faculties and departments provide their own guides to study skills. CUSU sometimes runs study skills support sessions during the year, and extra sessions during the Easter term prior to exams (tel. (3)33313, email academic@cusu.cam.ac.uk).

Students may have access to specialist study skills support provided through the Disability Resource Centre, or may be able to fund it from their Disabled Students' Allowance.

Practicals

Practicals can be difficult for disabled students. The assistance of a support worker may solve the problems, or adapted equipment may be necessary. The Disabled Students' Allowance may fund these.

Examinations

For students at degree level, particular examination allowances are available — these are dealt with in detail in the Tutors' Guide and described briefly in this guide. However, exams are not always the best means of assessment, and it may be possible to use an alternative, such as a presentation or a video.

Where an exam is necessary, alternative arrangements such as extra time, or using a computer can be helpful. For some students who experience extreme anxiety it can help to take the exam in a smaller room or in the same room for all the exams over the duration of their course.

Teaching people with hearing impairments

Deaf and hearing-impaired students might have difficulty with writing or reading written text, or with writing and listening at the same time. Some students need a note taker. If a student is lipreading, please stay as close to them as you can — and see the advice given here. A student with a hearing impairment might also need you to wear a microphone, which will amplify your voice through an induction loop and their hearing aid.

In lectures and classes:

• Attract the student's attention before speaking; make sure you are facing him/her
• Speak clearly; but not artificially slowly; do not exaggerate your lips, or shout
• Make use of natural gestures and facial expression as a clue to meaning
• Make sure your face is well lit; don't have your back to the window
• Position the student so that he/she can lip-read you easily, see the screen or blackboard, and as much of the class as possible if there is to be a group discussion
• Repeat questions asked from the floor
• Make use of visual material - handouts, key vocabulary, diagrams, written instructions
• Indicate when you are changing the subject
• Check comprehension; encourage questions
• Keep background noise to a minimum
• Write important new words on the blackboard to fix their form
• Don't expect a hearing impaired student to take notes easily; he/she can't lip-read and write simultaneously

In seminar groups:

• Ensure that members of the group raise their hand before speaking so that the student is alerted to a change of speaker
• Don't allow more than one person to speak at a time
• Be aware that a Deaf person cannot read or take notes while lip-reading — allow time for her/him to look at the relevant section of a handout, then make sure you have his or her attention before you comment on it

Teaching people with SpLD

Directors of Studies are strongly urged to ask supervisors to produce directed reading lists for students with SpLD. Such students can often find the reading process laborious and require more time to complete reading tasks and written work.

It would also be useful for students to have advice on the structure of their written work. Clear, explicit feedback concentrating on the content of the academic work is always useful. Assessment of the ideas in their work is more helpful than only focusing on spelling, and grammatical issues.

Other strategies

• Make sure all instructions, written and oral, are clear
• Be precise with feedback; students should be able to feed forward your comments into the next piece of work to develop their learning
• Be explicit in explaining when the structure is problematical and separate comments on content of the writing from those on grammar and/or spelling
• Encourage questions
• Allow recording of lectures/tutorials/seminars and the use of laptops and palmtops
• Do not talk over OHPs if students are trying to copy information
• Make handouts clear and accessible; use good quality originals for photocopies to ensure clear print
• Make lecture notes available in advance, either by hard copy or on the internet/intranet
• Explicitly introduce new words/terms or concepts. Give plenty of examples of the new vocabulary/terminology to become meaningful and to build up picture of abstract ideas
• Give an outline of what the text covers, its structure and set a few questions to be asked of the text as it is being read; this allows the students to approach the text with some idea of what is to be gained from it
• Be sensitive — empathy not sympathy

Teaching people with visual impairments

• It is a great help if visually impaired students can be provided with any lecture notes or hand-outs well in advance, in the format they need, so that they can arrange to transcribe them into their preferred medium
• If during the lecture or class new terms are written on the board, an oral explanation and spelling should be given at the same time
• Use of TV, video or slides is also problematic, especially if this occurs in a darkened room, when it is even more difficult to take notes

Teaching people with physical impairments

Students with physical impairments may benefit from the teaching strategies outlined above, especially if they also experience sensory or communication impairment. If they have difficulty with note taking, recording lectures or employing a note-taker may be necessary. Recording lectures is regarded as a reasonable adjustment under the DDA. Please contact the DRC if you have concerns about the intellectual property rights. They are most likely to have practical needs that will be met by their own personal assistant, by colleagues in the group offering simple help, and by good facilities in the room or building. Practical work in laboratories may require modified equipment or help from a personal assistant.

Getting around is likely to take them longer, so arriving at lectures and other appointments in time may be a problem. They may well need to be allocated a parking space in college or faculty.