Accessible teaching
Accessibility improves your teaching! This fact is often forgotten because the focus is on the presumed additional expense. Besides, there do not seem to be any students affected in your course anyway – so the topic cannot be that important. In fact, you can create accessible conditions more easily than you might think. This will help you break down barriers – even those that you are not necessarily aware of. In this article, you can find out what you can do and where you can find support.
In a nutshell: What is accessibility and what are barriers in teaching?
Imagine that you would receive this article in printed Braille. This would probably make the text inaccessible to you, as only a few people in Germany can read Braille. Without access you will not be reached, you will be disabled. The example follows Article 4 of the Disability Equality Act (BGG). Accessibility is defined here as findability, accessibility, and usability for all people without assistance. In our example, the text is not accessible and usable for you.
Barriers in teaching can be complex and invisible. Barriers always come from outside – not from the person themselves. They arise when structures are not designed for the use of necessary aids (assistive technologies such as screen readers). Three aspects are particularly important for a successful course of study: communication, teaching and learning materials, and examinations.
Examples of barriers in teaching
- A course in which the lecturer can hardly be understood without a microphone and wearing a mask. This means that communication is only possible with some of the students.
- PowerPoint presentations that cannot be captured by a screen reader program. These teaching/learning materials are not accessible to affected students.
- Fixed examination formats that make it impossible for students with mental illness, for example, to take the examination.
Step by step: Accessible teaching
Background: best2 study
In the nationwide survey “Studying with disabilities – best2“, data on the situation of students with disabilities was collected in the winter semester of 2016/17. Around 21,000 students with disabilities and chronic illnesses from 153 universities took part, including students from TH Cologne. The results illustrate the heterogeneity within the surveyed group. The study was published by Deutsches Studentenwerk.
Legal basis
Buildings and other facilities, means of transport, technical commodities, information processing systems, acoustic and visual information sources and communication facilities as well as other designed areas of life are considered accessible if they can be found, accessed, and used by people with disabilities in the usual way, without particular difficulty and in principle without assistance. The use of disability-related aids is permitted.
Act on Equal Opportunities for People with Disabilities, BGG § 4 Accessibility
Other laws and conventions define the legal basis for accessibility, including the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (Art. 24), the German Constitution (Art. 3, Section 3), and the German Social Code (Section 1 SGB IX).
Any questions?
Feel free to contact us by mail to lehrpfade@th-koeln.de!
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Header-Image: © Center for Academic Development, TH Cologne
