Student Services
Supporting You
Disability & Dyslexia
Information for Staff
Visual Impairments
The term "visually impaired" includes people who are partially sighted and those that are blind.
Teaching and learning
Every student's needs are different. Upon discussion with a Disability Advisor, a Learning Support Agreement (LSA) will be drawn up and disseminated to all relevant UEL staff. The LSA will inform you of the disabled student's particular teaching, learning and assessment requirements.
Below are strategies to consider when supporting visually impaired students:
- Some students may not be able to see you when you are giving instructions in lectures and tutorials. Please be clear and avoid using expressions like “over there”, etc.
- Keep room layout the same and avoid changing rooms regularly.
- Don’t assume that a visually impaired student will want to sit at the front of the class. If they are completely blind this will not help them at all, and they may prefer to sit at the back or near the door.
- Group work can be a problem and it might be helpful for other group members to be aware of the student’s needs. However, permission from the student concerned would be needed for this. Adjustments would involve communication (i.e. address the student by name so they know they are being spoken to, and whoever is communicating with the student should give their name so it is clear who is doing the speaking).
- Provide copies of any lecture notes in advance of the class. The student may need them in a different format, or just emailed so they can adjust them themselves. It may take them longer to read information so it inadvisable to give out and expect them to absorb written information in the session.
- If using the board it is essential to always describe verbally what you are doing so that students don’t miss out.
- Diagrams, pictures and charts will need a text description, and in some cases a tactile diagram may be needed.
- If a student prefers Braille as their format they will need their course materials made available to them in electronic format so they can be printed on a Braille printer.
Equipment
Visually impaired students are likely to be working with some of the following equipment:
- Lunar - magnification software which enlarges parts of the screen for students to see.
- JAWS - a screen reader which reads back to a student the text content on the screen. JAWS can be used with Microsoft, email and the internet etc.
- Supernova - a combination of both a screen reader and magnification software, and is the package that the university has available for students in the library and computer labs.
- Each library also has a CCTV for visually impaired students to use. This is a device for people with some useful vision consisting of a camera under which objects can be placed and magnified onto a monitor. It is mainly used for reading but can also be used for writing. It is likely to take longer than just reading from a page, so it is essential for a visually impaired student to be given plenty of time to access reading materials before class.
Useful Organisations
Also of Interest
