Accessibility Services
© ZAB - Bielefeld University
Accessibility Services (ZAB)
Accessible University
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Accessibility Services (ZAB)
The ZAB is the central point of contact for all issues relating to accessibility and the active participation of people with disabilities or chronic illnesses at Bielefeld University. The ZAB offers expertise
• on accessible and diversity-sensitive university development
• in digital accessibility
• for prospective students, students and lecturers on studying with disabilities or chronic illnesses
• for employees and managers on employment with disabilities or chronic illnesses
News
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Black or white? Not with ZAB!
At ZAB's third event of its 5th anniversary, everything revolved around digital accessibility. Prof. Dr. Gottfried Zimmermann lectured online about "Digital accessibility in practice - goodbye to black and white thinking" to many interested participants on 29.09.2022....read more
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Award ceremony for the ACCEESS student competition
The final presentation and award ceremony for the ACCESS student project took place on 28 September 2022. The jury selected three winning teams from ten participants and awarded prizes for their development tools.
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Opening of working and learning spaces for students with disabilities, chronic or mental illnesses
As part of the Open Day - 5 years of ZAB, the student workrooms were ceremoniously opened. The invited guests from the Rectorate and the areas of study and teaching were welcomed not only by the entire ZAB team, but also by the reader for visually impaired people, who briefly introduced the rooms. Afterwards, there was a live demonstration of a visually impaired workstation by a student who is already using the workrooms for his studies.
...read more
ZAB - Insights
Short questions – quick answers
How do I apply for disadvantage compensation?
You may apply for a Nachteilausgleich (“compensation for disadvantage”) if you have an existing disability or chronic illness that impairs your study. The purpose of the Nachteilausgleich is to create a comparable study and examination environment between students with and without a disability/ chronic illness.
More information on disadvantage compensation (in German)What do I have to consider - - before starting my studies if I have an impairment?
Information on applying, enrolling and admission to a degree programme, e.g. with disadvantage compensation or an application for hardship.
Prospective students (in German)Who can help me with - - questions or conflicts?
Depending on your concerns, we at the ZAB will put you in touch with the right person or provide you with advice.
Points of contact on the - - campus (in German)
Accessibility
What is accessibility?
"Building and other facilities, means of transport, technical items of daily use, information processing systems, acoustic and visual sources of information and communication facilities as well as other designed areas of life are considered accessible if they can be located, accessed and used by persons with disabilities in the usual way, without any particular difficulty and, in principle, without the assistance of others. In this context, the use of disability-related aids is permissible". (§4 Disability Equality Act - BGG).
A barrier is an obstacle. If accessibility is to achieved, then the obstacles in everyday life should be minimised so that everyone, regardless of whether they have a disability or not, can have the same opportunity to live their life independently and autonomously.
In particular, the barriers and prejudices that exist in people's minds must be dismantled by challenging attitudes and actions. After all, discrimination is also a barrier.
Why is accessibility important!
Accessibility is not just a concept for people with disabilities, but for people of all ages, with and without impairments. All people benefit from accessibility.
Accessibility is mandatory for 10% of people to actively participate in life. This applies in particular to blind, visually impaired or deaf people. But many other people are also highly dependent on it.
Accessibility is necessary for 30 to 40% of people to enable active participation on a sustained basis. This applies to all people with an impairment, disability or chronic illness. This could be a matter of ensuring high contrast in the digital or built environment, or providing different ways to perceive something according to the two-senses principle.
Accessibility is something that for 100%, i.e. all people provides convenience at the very least. Because there is one thing that all people have in common: they are ageing, for example, and their physical capacity or perceptive ability is decreasing. A lift, for example, is absolutely essential for people in wheelchairs, necessary for people with mobility impairments, and convenient for everyone else, whether they have luggage, a pram or are simply having trouble getting up the stairs.