Nature of the Disability

The term 'visually impaired' covers a wide variety of conditions ranging from total blindness to partial sight.  Loss of visual function is among the most common causes of disability in the UK, with almost a million people being blind or partially sighted, that is one in sixty of the population. Moreover, it should be noted that although people may be registered blind this does not mean that they have no vision at all.  Also, it is not always obvious that someone is visually impaired; the common markers such as a Guide Dog or white stick are not always in evidence. There are, therefore, many causes of loss of visual function and blindness. 

Services and support available

• Students with visual impairments can access personal support workers (eg Readers, Scribes, Notetakers and Personal Assistants)  
• Exam papers can be translated into the appropriate format (Larger fonts, Braille)
• Use of computer with assistive technology

There are Assistive Technology Resources (ATR) areas in each learning centre for all disabled students giving access to enabling software and equipment. All areas include:

• Desktop computers
• Stand alone CCTV units for enlarging printed text
• 22" adjustable monitor with adjustable arm
• book-edge scanner with optical character recognition software (OCR) providing visual and auditory feedback

Assistive software includes:

• Zoomtext (Screen magnification)
• Jaws (Screen reader).
• Kurzweill 1000 (Screen software)

These areas are integral to the Learning Centres and are located at the Adsetts centre (Level 2 and Level 6) and Collegiate learning centre on the ground floor.
Many Visually Impaired students use personal support workers to access the Learning Centre's materials.  This may include: locating relevant subject material, reading or recording relevant sections, and/or scanning the information/text into a document. If their personal Support Worker is not available a student may still access the Learning Centre's facilities for support regarding location and retrieval of academic text etc. by approaching staff when necessary.

Needs Assessment

The support provided will depend on recommendations made by your assessor when you have your Needs Assessment, therefore you will need to apply for Disabled Student' Allowances as soon as possible. Sheffield Regional Assessment Centre can undertake your needs assessment.