Student with severe visual impairment or blindness

For studies to be possible for a student with severe visual impairment or blindness, efforts are needed from various activities within KI: teachers and administrative staff at the department responsible for the course and the department responsible for the program, the University Library, the Property and Facilities Office, Examination service and the coordinator for students with disabilities. 

The student can also receive some support from the region's Vision Center.

Books: e-text, Braille, talking books

Students with visual impairments need literature in a format other than printed books, usually e-textbooks and/or braille books or talking books. The University Library (KIB) orders literature in a different format when the student has contacted them about this. However, it takes 8-12 weeks from order to finished product and therefore the bibliography needs to be updated well in advance of the start of the course. 

Equipment is available in the resource room at KIB that may be of interest in the case of visual impairment (but hardly in the case of blindness): Text magnifier and Zoomtext 

This is how you read our books

The resource rooms at KIB

Teaching materials

Are all the texts used in the course also available in a digitally accessible format?

It is the teaching staff's responsibility to make their teaching material accessible, regardless of whether accessibility has been requested. In a lecture hall, this may mean that images, graphs, etc. that are shown also need to be described verbally, headings need to be read out, etc. Whiteboard pens should be black or blue, as red and green are usually more difficult to perceive in case of visual impairment. 

The student may be helped by having access to teaching materials in advance.

In seminars or exercises where a student must discuss new information, alternatively written information in combination with oral information, adaptations may be needed in the form of information in advance or summaries afterwards.

Digital accessibility

Digital material must be accessible. Students with visual impairments often use aids such as magnifying software, screen readers, speech synthesis and braille displays. A screen reader reproduces text and image content in speech (via speech synthesis) and braille. A screen reader cannot render text in image format (for example PDF) but will interpret that text as an image. Film needs to be interpreted. Teachers can always ask the student directly if he or she is unsure whether the material is accessible. 

Checklist for digital accessibility:

• Use the accessibility control in Office programs. Then you get answers to important questions such as: Are the texts readable with digital tools? Do texts have good color contrast and a logical reading order? Are headings formatted as headings (and not, for example, body text)? Are there alternative texts (text describing images and graphs) in documents and power point presentations? Microsoft - improve accessibility with accessibility control
• Review video material used in the course. Any information presented visually must also be presented verbally. Information on visual interpretation of video recordings (in Swedish)

Support for digital accessibility

Accessibility in digital learning environment

Availability in your Canvas course

Digital accessibility and UDL (universal design for learning)

Contact UoL (Teaching and Learning)

More from Microsoft

Microsoft - make your Word documents accessible to everyone

Microsoft - write effective alt texts

Examination

Teachers are responsible for creating examination material in an accessible format. Text needs to be readable by screen readers. Images need to be interpreted, as do graphs, tables, etc. Decorative images, i.e. images that add nothing to the content should be avoided. If Examination service does not have the necessary equipment, the student's own aids can be used during the exam. Examination service and Student-IT are looking at possible and safe solutions but may need extra preparation time for this. The coordinator for students with disabilities informs the student of the need to communicate both with the course and examination service about which aids are needed. Even the premises of the University Library (the resource room) could be relevant for examination because there is some visual equipment there. The student may need access to a web page that interprets graphs and the like during the exam.

If the technical aids are not sufficient to reach equal conditions, an alternative form of examination may be a solution.

The indoor and outdoor environment on campus

The Property and Facilities Office is responsible for planning and supplying KI-shared premises and furnishings. 

The student can be granted a vision supporter by the coordinator for students with disabilities. The vision supporter is a fellow student in the class who acts as a companion on campus so that the student with visual impairment learns to find halls, restrooms, lunchrooms, etc. Compensation is paid via the coordinator, who also recruits a fellow student for the assignment. 

The student can also have a guide dog. The guide dog can be compared to a personal aid and the student should not seek educational support to have it. It can stay on the university's premises if you don't see a direct risk with it. If there is a risk, the student needs to be contacted to find an alternative solution. The student does not have to inform in advance that he has a guide dog, even if it is desirable. The discrimination ombudsman about guide dogs (in Swedish)

Work-based training

The program needs to contact the VFU/VIL location well in advance to see which adjustments need to be made and which can be made. The department should also carry out a risk assessment together with the clinical operations. 

If it is not possible to grant adaptations due to lack of resources or impact on learning objectives, or for safety reasons, the examiner can refuse the adaptation, which must be justified in writing. 

The clinic can also refuse to accept the student and must then justify why.