Stephanie Abtmeyer

Humanities and Social Sciences Library
R09 T00 M95

... with visual impairment

Staff members from our Department for Digital Services are working on converting teaching materials from a pdf format to a reader-friendly EPUB format, Word format or any other needed format.

We are providing advice and will respond to your personal needs as far as possible. In addition, we take care of legal and technical issues and cooperate with colleagues from the UAR libraries.

Please use our service and contact our colleague in charge:
Katrin Falkenstein-Feldhoff
+49 (0) 203 379 1504
Digital Library Services
LK Library (Duisburg)
LK130

... with reduced hearing ability

A portable inductive hearing system (LoopHear) is available in all branch libraries (exception: Medical Library), which enables hearing aid users to receive audio signals via the hearing aid without interference.

An induction loop transmits audio signals clearly and free of other distracting noise in the environment the hearing-impaired listener. For library users, who don't have a hearing aid or a "T" (telecoil) button at their device, earphones are available.

Please contact information services in the respective branch library.

Make it easier for students with a visual impairment and ensure accessibility from the very beginning when creating your own teaching materials (assignment sheets, handouts, etc.).

1. Make your teaching material available to students with a visual impairment in Word format.
   Speech output programmes do best with Word.
     
2. Add image descriptions.
   A few sentences with the key messages of a graphic are sufficient.
   Remove graphics that are not crucial.
     
3. Use the Word format templates for headings.
   Users can jump from one to the next with a keyboard shortcut.
     
4. Insert page numbers.
   This makes it easier for users to find their way around the document.
     
5. Talk to your students!
   Agreements, not only at the beginning of the semester, can help to reduce pressure.

If you provide teaching material that you did not create yourself and that is not accessible, students with a visual impairment often have to rely on our conversion service.

Make our work easier by paying attention to the following:

• Prioritise the teaching material.
  Our conversion service can never convert all materials - e.g. from a long bibliography - into a machine-readable format. Remember: we convert each text individually and then have to proofread it word by word. Only send us material that is elementary to your teaching.

• Make large amounts of text shorter.
  Is it really necessary to read the whole book or are individual chapters enough? So mark the most important pages in a long text. This not only helps us to use staff resources wisely; because students who work with voice output programmes do not have the opportunity to "cross-read". Focusing on specific chapters or paragraphs will therefore directly contribute to learning success.

• Check the prioritised material for illustrations.
  Every illustration in a document must be described. Remember that our staff members are not experts in the subject - so you make a great contribution by marking irrelevant illustrations as such and summarising the message of crucial graphics in a few sentences yourself.

• Invest.
  For students with visual impairments, managing their studies is much more complex than for many of their fellow students. The preparation of teaching material is a massive "time eater" that weighs down studies. Be generous - every step you invest in providing your teaching materials sustainably increases equal opportunities at UDE.

Would you like to learn more about accessibility at the UDE?
The university offers regular training on the topic.