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Introduction
Assistive Technologies - The Untapped Potential
JISC TechDis Research and Implications
Further support and guidance
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The Disability Equality Duty came into force on 4 December 2006, a legal duty requiring all public bodies to actively look at ways of ensuring that disabled people are treated equally. Bert Massie from the Disability Rights Commission claimed it ‘will have a major impact on the lives of disabled people and will radically shift the way public authorities deliver their services.’ Whilst some good guidance on the Disability Equality Duty has been available, for example on the Disability Rights Commission website, this has tended to focus more on collecting baseline data and implementing the systems needed to acquire it.
Many colleges are currently reviewing their Disability Equality Scheme, so this is an opportune moment to review a sample of Disability Equality Schemes and to consider how they might be improved in order to:
In preparing this briefing, JISC TechDis consulted with a range of organisations, each with expertise in supporting disabled learners. Each organisation was asked to suggest key priorities for a College in implementing genuine disability equality. They were also asked for the kind of support, services or consultancy that they could offer individual colleges. We then compared this information with the kind of information available on College Disability Equality Schemes by sampling a 10% stratified sample of English Further Education colleges. Given that the biggest influence on a learner's experience is what goes on in the classroom, we were particularly interested in any references to inclusive teaching and learning, assistive technologies or inclusive learning resources.
It turned out that there was a significant under representation of the role of assistive technologies in the Disability Equality Schemes sampled. For many colleges, assistive technology consists of a narrow range of expensive software provided on an ad hoc basis but in reality a wide range of free or open source technologies exist. Few of these technologies match the sophistication of commercial software, but they do offer a repertoire of inexpensive solutions which can provide benefits for both disabled and non-disabled learners. The final section of this briefing explores some of the possibilities and provides links to downloads, evaluations and selected video clips.
JISC TechDis contacted seven national organisations with expertise in supporting disabled learners in order to ask them for their top priorities in effectively implementing the Disability Equality Duty. The organisations contacted included AbilityNet, Becta, BRITE, LSN, RNIB, RNID and SKILL. The following themes were identified in order of significance.
All of the organisations pointed to the significance of staff training. This included both generic disability awareness training and more specific training geared towards those who work directly with disabled learners. A point brought out by most of the organisations was the importance of a whole organisational approach – recognising that the learner’s experience is as much to do with the receptionists, librarians and administrators as it is to do with the teachers or additional support staff. Both BRITE and RNID recognized that having an accessible curriculum requires quite specific training for teaching staff if disabled learners are going to participate at the same level as other learners.
The second most common theme to emerge was the active involvement of disabled learners at every stage of the relevant processes. For example, AbilityNet pointed out the importance of the learner playing an active part in the assessment of need, so that they had opportunities to trial different technologies or adaptations. The more the learner is involved in suggesting alternative approaches or adjustments, the more likely they are to be successful. It was also pointed out that the learners should be involved in ongoing active evaluation of solutions. An appropriate adjustment at the beginning of the course may be less appropriate as time goes on and the learner’s confidence and independence grow.
The importance of effective technology support was highlighted by AbilityNet, RNID, and RNIB. The client groups supported by each of these organisations can benefit enormously from an appropriate technology infrastructure. The RNID highlighted generic technologies for reception (counter loops, textphones or TalkByText) teaching spaces (induction loops for meeting rooms, seminar rooms and lecture theatres) and commercial paging systems to protect deaf and hard of hearing learners in the event of a fire.
AbilityNet raises the importance of effective technology training for the learner. No matter how good the technology is, if the learner has limited training or confidence, the level of support they experience will be equally limited. They also point out the importance of communicating the accessibility options available in everyday software from Microsoft® Office products through to virtual learning environments, intranets and websites.
Nearly half the organisations contacted highlighted the availability of alternative formats in their top five priorities. An important part of making the curriculum accessible is to make the learning materials accessible to the learner. An effective Disability Equality Scheme would clarify to all learners how they can get alternative resources. For many learners, simply having the resources available in digital format would allow sufficient personalisation to give independent access to the content.
In many cases existing or freely downloadable software allows the learner to independently adapt the material to suit their own needs (for example in terms of colours, fonts styles, font sizes and even audio versions). Unfortunately very few learners - even disabled learners – have received training on how to do this. For more information see the JISC TechDis Accessibility Essentials Series, particularly the first publication on reading online documents.
The size of the Disability Equality Scheme was immensely variable, ranging in our samples from 3 pages to 96! The mean size was about 19 pages. In general it would be expected that the longer the document the less likely it is to be read, although in fairness to our samples the 96 page document was actually one of the most pragmatic, informative and genuinely helpful of all the statements sampled.
Staff Training and Awareness
This was top of the list from the disability support organisations contacted yet 8% of the statements searched had no mention of training or staff development and a further 33% were very vague in their training commitments or topics. However nearly 60% of the colleges surveyed had quite specific training targets. The majority of these were related to the Disability Equality Duty or disability awareness. A much smaller number oriented towards inclusive teaching and learning, yet for the majority of teachers, tutors and lecturers the issue is not just about being aware of disability but knowing what to do about it - how to teach in a way that is more inclusive to disabled learners.
Suggested Good Practice
Actively Involving Disabled Learners
Many of the institutions detailed the way they will involve disabled learners; focus groups and formal feedback being two of the common mechanisms. The best specified the information they were going to obtain, from whom they were going to get it from, how, and gave proposals of what would be done with the data. About a quarter of the Disability Equality Schemes read had no information about feedback/consultation mechanisms.
A few of the statements published feedback already collected – an approach that had much merit since they were able to highlight their strengths and offer responses to their weaknesses. This kind of confidence projects a robust, transparent and responsive culture. One of the difficulties in actively involving disabled learners is that the process becomes harder work as your systems become more successful – people are most keen on being involved when they want to see changes but satisfaction can result in complacency!
None of this data on learner feedback/involvement included details about the technology used in the college with disabled students. This could be a useful amendment to gauge how to best use the technology provided in the college and to see if changes were required.
Suggested Good Practice:
Effective Transition Planning
Among the disability support organisations contacted, effective transition planning was high on the list, reflecting the experiences and difficulties of disabled learners. Our research did not focus on this area because the pilot study indicated there was little reference to transition in Disability Equality Schemes. This may be partly explained by the often well developed systems by which learner support departments work with disabled applicants. It may also be that Disability Equality Schemes concentrate on supporting learners once they have arrived rather than focusing on arrival and departure. We would strongly suggest however that a College should:
Effective Use of Technology – Infrastructure, Resources and Tools
Half the specialist organisations we worked with highlighted the importance of assistive technology in one form or another and yet less than half of the Disability Equality Schemes sampled had a mention of technology at all and only a quarter had information of practical use to disabled learners. Those that did, however, had a wide range of detail. The best had an entire section on assistive technology and software, detailing the hardware and software available, what can be borrowed and assessments of the available products.
An important area to consider, and one often overlooked, is the accessibility of teaching and learning resources. Less than a third of the colleges mentioned accessibility in this pedagogical sense and only one college gave a measurable target – to have 50% of teaching materials on the virtual learning environment. Others provided a range of details from highlighting the availability of alternative formats through to in-depth details of website accessibility and software availability.
Suggested Good Practice
Further information on Assistive Technologies - The Untapped potentials
Whether learner is adequately supported by their assistive technologies depends on a number of factors:
Is the technology available to the learner on a regular basis?
Is the technology available to the learner on all the machines they are likely to use, including any at home?
Has the learner been trained in using the technology?
Has the learner had an opportunity to trial the technology before being provided with a final solution?
Unfortunately, for commercial software, the answer to most of those questions is ‘no’. The reasons may vary, but include the following - much commercial software is expensive so it is spread thinly across the site. It may be too expensive for personal purchase or for speculative trials and it may be so powerful that it takes time to provide training in all its features. By contrast, free and open source software can be available across the network on any machine, can be downloaded at home, is cheap to trial and is normally relatively limited in its functionality (therefore quick to master).
There is some excellent free and open source assistive technology available but it faces two major hurdles in implementation; firstly, lacking advertising budgets it is difficult to get good marketing exposure and secondly, lacking technical support teams it is less popular with college network managers. Nonetheless, given the benefits of widely implemented assistive technologies, free versions deserve far better exposure than they have currently received.
The JISC TechDis Approach to Assistive Technology Genres
JISC TechDis has developed a model of assistive technologies which has many advantages. The model is based on seven tools reflecting the learning process. These include reading tools, recording tools, planning tools, writing tools, visualisation tools, alternative interfaces and communication tools (for those with no speech). These divide into sub themes as shown below.
By looking at a ‘tools for learning’ approach a number of advantages become apparent:
The JISC TechDis genres approach is a way of generating alternative strategies for supporting learners. It also helps additional learning support staff to see some of the tools in a new light since some software can appear under more than one category. The section below summarises a selection of free or open source assistive technology organised along the lines of the JISC TechDis genres outlined above.
These have been either examined by JISC TechDis team members or recommended by respected practitioners. There are caveats however. The range of free and assistive software is wide and growing. Absence from this list does not imply inferiority in any way – for example there are other excellent assistive technology lists which we have been careful not to simply replicate. These include the OATS project software library and AbilityNet’s list of useful low cost programs.
In compiling the examples below, JISC TechDis has selected technologies that could potentially benefit disabled learners and – in many cases - also be of use to learners without disabilities. Shifting the emphasis from a deficit model - ‘software to sort your problems,’ to a tools model - ‘software that enhances productivity’ may be a subtle distinction but it is an important one in creating genuine disability equality and mainstreaming assistive technologies.
Please note that in compiling the examples below we aim to encourage institutions to evaluate the benefits and risks of using free and open source software. We are not formally endorsing or recommending these products. As with all free resources, the user is responsible for satisfying themselves as to the fitness of purpose of the products – but we would encourage experimentation, whether with these or with others available from the links above.
Existing Free/Open Source Tools for Learners.
For brevity, this summary simply identifies a range of respected tools that can form part of a repertoire of support – both for learners with a disability and, indeed, learners who could simply make use of some handy tools. For full details of these tools see http://www.techdis.ac.uk/getfreesoftware where we have an enhanced version of the list with commentary and selected video clips and screen shots.
Alternative Interfaces - Further information on Alternative interfaces
Keyboard Alternatives:
Mouse Alternatives:
Screen Readers:
Visualisation Tools - Further information on Visualisation Tools
Reading Tools - Further information on Reading Tools
Audio Narration:
Colour/Font Options:
Comprehension Tools:
Sumarising Tools:
Text to Speech:
Recording Tools - Further Information on Recording Tools
Writing Tools - Further information on Writing Tools
Handwriting Alternatives:
Handwriting Recognition:
Word Prediction:
Word Banks:
Planning Tools - Further information on Planning Tools
Organiser Tools:
Summarising Tools:
Mindmapping Tools:
Communication Tools - Further information on Communication Tools
About AbilityNet
AbilityNet are a national charity and the UK’s leading provider of advice on computing and disability. Every year they help thousands of people with a wide range of disabling or limiting conditions, to access and release the enabling power of computer technology. They provide a freephone advice and information line, individual assessments, awareness training, courses for professionals, support for organisations, loan equipment and equipment to buy.
Resources Available
AbilityNet in education
AbilityNet Factsheets
information about support available from AbilityNet
To contact AbilityNet about these resources and other support they can provide, you can contact them via the freephone and minicom number;
mailto:enquiries@abilitynet.org.uk .
Training and Consultancy
AbilityNet Standard Training Courses
AbilityNetBespoke Training Courses
To contact AbilityNet regarding these course please email mailto:accessibility@abilitynet.org.uk or phone on
Becta <p><span style=" font-weight:="" bold;=""> About Becta
Becta leads the national drive to improve learning through technology. We do this by working with industry to ensure we have the right technology for education in place. We also support the education sector to make the best use of technology so that every learner in the UK is able to benefit from its advantages and achieves the best they can.
Resources Available
Generic advice and guidance:
Making accessible software: a guide for developers and providers
This guide is designed to help industry to understand how legislation applies to learners with special education needs and what 'reasonable adjustment' may mean in the context of ICT.
Making software accessible: a guide for schools
This guide is designed to help schools to understand how legislation applies to their learners with special education needs and what 'reasonable adjustment' may mean in the context of ICT.
Software accessibility: legal requirements for schools
ICT is increasingly used to enhance the education of all learners, but for some, the use of digital resources may present barriers because they have special needs or disabilities.
Schools will want ICT resources to be accessible to all their learners – and have a legal duty to make ‘reasonable adjustments’ to ensure that learners who are disabled are not put at a substantial disadvantage. But what does this mean in practice?
Teaching, learning, libraries and examinations:
Improving access with assistive technology
Many learners have sensory, physical or cognitive difficulties that make it hard for them to use a standard keyboard, monitor or mouse without some adjustment
being made. This can be achieved through the computer’s system accessibility options, or by using alternative or assistive technology.
Inspire me: Using podcasting to support language and communicationUsing podcasting to support language and communication
Aimed at 15-16-year olds with severe learning difficulties and uses podcasting to support language and communication.
How assistive technology is used by learners
Learners who have special needs or disabilities often need adjustments to be made to hardware or software, or additional devices, to enable them to access learning through ICT.
Many others are available via the inclusion area of the Becta website . For more information regarding BECTA’s resources you can contact them via; telephone; becta@becta.org.uk .
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The BRITE Initiative
About the BRITE Initiative
BRITE stands for Beattie Resources for Inclusiveness in Technology and Education. The Initiative was established in 2001, with funding from the Scottish Executive and Scottish Further Education Funding Council, on the recommendation of the Beattie Committee. The BRITE Initiative was set up to inform, train and assist the staff in Scotland's colleges who work to include and support students, often through the effective use of enabling technologies.
Resources Available
BRITE have created a range of Assistive Technology User Guides that are available in both electronic and hard copy formats. In addition BRITE have developed multi-media resources such as an online guide to support for deaf students, an Inclusive Building Design checklist and an interactive guide for students with dyslexia. Although these have been developed with funding from Scottish Funding Council, none of the content is geography-specific and all of the content is available to support colleagues working with post-school learners in FE/HE. For further information please visit the BRITE Initiative Resources. Please note that BRITE materials are available in a variety of alternate formats.
Training and Consultancy
Training resources, such as standard courses or bespoke courses for staff: The training designed and developed by BRITE Initiative has recently been validated by the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) as a Professional Development Award (PDA) entitled: Inclusiveness: Facilitating Strategies to Support Learners with Additional Needs. For further information, contact SQA or BRITE on enquiries@brite.ac.uk
BRITE also offers an annual programme of seminars on a wide range of inclusion and assistive technology topics. Our Seminar Programme can be viewed by visiting our web site. The Autumn/Winter 07/08 programme will be available from mid-August 2007.
BRITE offers bespoke training in response to requests from other post-school educators and learning providers. Recent contracts include work with the Scottish Disability Team, Equality Forward, the University of Oslo and the Department for Education and Learning in Northern Ireland (DELNI).
Requests for further information can be lodged via emailing enquiries@brite.ac.uk or on the BRITE website where you will also find FAQs and general information.
About LSN
The Learning and Skills Network (LSN) is an independent not-for-profit organisation committed to making a difference to learning and skills. LSN aims to do this by delivering quality improvement and staff development programmes that support specific government initiatives, through research, training and consultancy; and by supplying services directly to schools, colleges and training organisations. Our support is practical and is delivered by skilled staff with a close appreciation and understanding of our sector.
Resources available
Generic advice and guidance:
List of LSN publications
The following selection may be of particular interest:
LSN have a resource called; ‘The journey towards disability equality toolkit.’ It can be found at; http://www.lsneducation.org.uk/pubs/pages/062483.aspx .
Briefing for providers: The new Duty to Promote Disability Equality; Duty to promote disability equality: final report can be found at http://www.lsneducation.org.uk/dda/disabilityequality/seminar0206.aspx .
Assessment of Need:
This publication ‘Do you have a disability - yes or no? or is there a better way of asking?' Hard copies and downloads are available from here; http://www.lsneducation.org.uk/pubs/pages/052243.aspx
Training and Consultancy
LSN consultancy page
For more information on LSN, or any of our programmes of resources, please telephone the Information and Customer Centre on
sfaraday@lsneducation.org.uk or Chris Barlow (Development Advisor) who also deals with training and consultancy on
cbarlow@lsneducation.org.uk
About RNID
RNID is the largest charity working to change the world for the UK’s 9 million deaf and hard of hearing people. The RNID provides hearing support equipment to the education sector. We offer advice, surveys, supply, installation and maintenance of induction loop and infrared systems, fm radio microphone systems (radio aids) and Soundfield sound reinforcement systems. We support telecommunications access for deaf learners through textphones and RNID TalkByText software.
Resources available
RNID factsheets
These factsheets have information on, DDA for learners in FE/HE institutions, DDA for service providers, teaching strategies and 'How inclusive are you?' Disabled Students Allowance, DED for public authorities
‘Access’ catalogue of products and equipment, available from October 2007
Further information can also be found at the RNID website
Training and Consultancy
RNID have courses on British Sign language available, for example the Level 3 Certificate BSL (British Sign Language) and NVQ 3 BSL (British Sign Language). There is also a ‘Start to sign’ BSL introduction, deaf awareness training and deaf and disability awareness training. Email the information line on informationline@rnid.org.uk to get more details about these courses.
RNID can tailor their courses for bespoke packages. ICT and usabilility consultancy can help you follow current industry best practice. Bespoke consultancy to help colleges support learners with deafness and hearing loss, and help colleges work towards RNID’s ‘Louder than Words’ chartermark
To contact the RNID regarding the resources, training and consultancy available please telephone
Skill - National Bureau for Students With Disabilities
About SKILL: National Bureau for Students with Disabilities
Skill: National Bureau for Students with Disabilities is an independent charity that promotes opportunities for people with any kind of disability in learning and employment. Since 1974 we have been helping young people and adults over 16 years of age with any kind of disability including physical and sensory disabilities, learning and mental health difficulties throughout the UK. Skill believes that for many disabled people education is the key to leading a fulfilling and independent life.
Resources Available
Skill resources relating to education
There are also some resources on Further Education they look at: Applying to Further Education, Guidance for Disabled People and Funding for Disabled Students in Further Education.
Training and Consultancy
SKILL Provides standard training, bespoke training and consultancy for staff.
To find out more information about what SKILL can provide for you please contact SKILL via:
General Advice:
Assessment of Need:
Student Factsheet: Learning and Technology Needs Assessments available in hard copy and information can also be found on the RNIB student website
Teaching, Learning, Libraries and Examinations:
Student Factsheet: Examinations and Assessment, Libraries and information services, and information online on the RNIB student website and RNIB Post Compulsory Education and Training website
Training and Consultancy
All topics above covered by courses and conferences run by RNIB PCET and Employment staff in Regional Centres. For further information please contact karenedwards@rnib.org.uk - National PCET Team Administrator who will forward your query onto the appropriate person to reply
Also available is a wide range of short one day courses covering a range of topics including Visual Awareness, Enabling Technology, Adapting Learning Materials, Education and Career Planning, Access to Examinations and Qualifications, Access Technology and Accessible Materials, Supporting Mobility Issues for learners in FE and HE and many more. Contact the RNIB for further details.
The RNIB also have a one year Post Graduate Course in partnership with University of Birmingham - Visual Impairment in Further Education
Level Three Course - Post 16 Partners in Learning (for Learning Support Workers).
Consultation available on a wide range of issues relating to blind and partially sighted learners and providers / organisations. Please contact your Regional RNIB office or Karen Edwards as above for further details. The contact details for the RNIB head office are: Tel: helpline@rnib.org.uk .
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