Accessing what you need, when you need it
UQ's vision is to become a global leader in disability inclusion.
Universities are uniquely situated to become transformative agents of change by enabling staff, students and other persons with disabilities to fully realise their rights set out in the paradigm shifting United Nations Convention on the Right of Persons with Disabilities.
Accessibility and Learning Support Assistant Manager Leonie Meyn’s job is to ensure that all users – whatever their ability – can access the Library’s full range of facilities and resources.
“We want our services to be available to everyone at UQ,” she said.
“It’s a human rights concern and a legal issue, if nothing else – plus, imagine how much richer society would be if we all had access to purposeful information, especially if it could be achieved by something as simple as having a special font installed on your computer.
“Wouldn’t that make life easier?”
Leonie Meyn, UQ Library's Accessibility and Learning Support Assistant Manager, demonstrating the Pearl Camera to Angela Hannan, Faculty Librarian, UQ. The Pearl Camera, is a portable reading solution for blind and vision-impaired users. The folding camera deploys in seconds to connect to your PC and snap a picture of your printed material with an array of human-sounding voices.
Leonie Meyn, UQ Library's Accessibility and Learning Support Assistant Manager, demonstrating the Pearl Camera to Angela Hannan, Faculty Librarian, UQ. The Pearl Camera, is a portable reading solution for blind and vision-impaired users. The folding camera deploys in seconds to connect to your PC and snap a picture of your printed material with an array of human-sounding voices.
Meyn has always had a passion to help others, and has long been a champion for the ‘suppressed’ and those who don’t want to draw attention to themselves – like some people with a disability. Growing up in India, she advocated for the education of women and worked with the St Vincent de Paul Society to help those less fortunate.
After moving to Australia in 1992, she became an accounting and technology teacher, and then moved into the disability/equity sector, where she applied her computer skills for the advancement of information access. Her duties also included financial budgeting and reconciliation, organising access plans for exams, purchasing special equipment, and liaising between disability advisers and academics.
The perfect background for her current role.
“Since starting at UQ in April this year, I’ve been busy scoping what technology is available to support the diverse needs of our students, determining whether our library spaces are accessible, working with our library web team to improve our website, meeting with key stakeholders across the University such as Student Services and the Institute for Teaching and Learning Innovation, liaising with students, and developing a plan to improve accessibility to library resources,” Meyn said.
“I want to get the message out there that help is available.”
“In collaboration with other areas within the University, I have been providing training and awareness sessions for students and academics via the Library, as well as ensuring our website follows the Web Content Accessibility Standards.”
Meyn is also a member of UQ’s Disability Inclusion Group (UQ DIG), which aims to develop and implement disability inclusion initiatives across the University, following the principle of ‘nothing about us, without us’.
The Assistive Technology Room in Central Library (Level 1) at UQ St Lucia, equipped with height-adjustable desk, two adjustable chairs, dimmer lights and assistive technology (Dragon, Fusion, Dyslexie font, provision for blue tooth, webcam, and wide screen).
The Assistive Technology Room in Central Library (Level 1) at UQ St Lucia, equipped with height-adjustable desk, two adjustable chairs, dimmer lights and assistive technology (Dragon, Fusion, Dyslexie font, provision for blue tooth, webcam, and wide screen).
So, what does ‘accessibility’ mean in reality?
In an online context, it refers to making content equitably available to all users. This means that the information on a website should be accessible to people regardless of their level of education, the speed of their internet access, or their disability status.
“Just raising awareness of the difficulties particular groups of people can have in finding information can indirectly benefit other groups of people who may find systems clumsy or hard to understand,” Meyn said.
UQ Library staff using Treventus book scanners, specialist equipment that produce high-quality digitisations of print material.
UQ Library staff using Treventus book scanners, specialist equipment that produce high-quality digitisations of print material.
At UQ, the Library offers a range of services, including:
· Assistive technology rooms, with back-rests and foot-rests, which contain special software and equipment such as Fusion (with ZoomText screen magnifier and JAWS screen reader) and Dragon (where speech is converted to text). Students are also made aware of NVDA (free screen reader) and EquatiO (accessible Maths tools to insert accessible equations into documents) and other free accessibility software for the diverse needs of clients.
· Wheelchair accessible facilities with accessible doors in Central Library and the assistive technology rooms, and braille-signed lifts in each building.
· Height-adjustable desks in the assistive technology rooms as well as in Central Library and training rooms.
· Dyslexie font installed on all Library computers.
· Advice on how to find free and useful information and tools like CORE (open access research papers), Librivox (free audiobook collection), Internet archive (material in an array of formats), transcript service on Blackboard, and the extensive Microsoft features that provide help for those who have limited vision or hearing, are neurodiverse, or have learning, mobility or mental health issues.
· A scanning service for converting print material to accessible format and a retrieval service for physically accessing and borrowing current material.
· In-person and online training modules on how to access and use information effectively, including study hacks and communication tips.
Is UQ typical of the wider community in terms of its response to people with a disability?
“Of course, we could always do better, but our main focus is on risk management and raising awareness of issues that others may not even perceive as issues,” Meyn said
“In the short-term, we need to train our leaders of the future about why we should improve accessibility for all; we need to improve our signage; and we need to remove the stigma of disability so that people feel more comfortable asking for help when they need it: life could be so much easier for them!”
Meyn is hoping to introduce a raft of academic skills training sessions shortly.
“Mental health issues are definitely on the rise across society, especially with the impact of COVID-19, so it’s important to do what we can to address things within our control, like ensuring people can access information,” she said.
If you’d like to know more about diversity, disability and inclusion at UQ, contact Student Services, or your relevant Student Adviser or staff Disability contact.
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