The percentage of students with disabilities in higher education rises by about 15% every year but do you understand what that means in your lecture hall or classroom?   

Participants will:

• Gain an understanding of the impact of different disabilities in the learning environment.
• Understand what reasonable accommodations. 
• Explore how to support students with disabilities and enable them to meet the demands of the course.  
• Understand the legal obligations placed on their institutions

In the lecture hall/learning environment of the 21st century, diversity is now the norm, but how do you ensure the diverse needs of your students are met within the learning environment?  Applying the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) can offer practical solutions that benefit all students.

Participants will:

• Explore the diversity in your institution and examine what you need to do to ensure that your institution fully includes all students.  
• Gain an understanding of the principles of Universal Design for Learning – UDL.
• Discover easy ways to start incorporating UDL within your learning environment/institution.

GetAHEAD works to upskill students and graduates with disabilities in making the transition from third-level education to full-time employment. Through the GetAHEAD initiative, training events are run in conjunction with the careers and disability support services within the HEI and are free of charge. GetAHEAD can cover topics such as:

• Interview preparation
• Writing your CV
• Job seeking
• Disclosure of Disability to Employers

We provide disability awareness training for the workplace with the aim of improving employment opportunities for people with disabilities by identifying and addressing any potential barriers in recruitment, selection and retention. 

Topics covered include:

• Interviewing people with disabilities
• Disclosure 
• Reasonable accommodations – getting them right
• Grants & supports
• Legal obligations

Assistive Technology, or AT, can support people with a wide range of disabilities. The variety of AT available includes free and paid technologies, and AT is around us in our phones, tablets and computers, as well as other devices. AT is part of Universal Design for Learning and part of the solution to making environments inclusive for everyone.

Participants will:

• Develop awareness of Assistive Technology and have an understanding of the ways that diverse technologies can help people with disabilities.
• Gain an understanding of Assistive Technology and how it links to the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL).
• Understand reasonable accommodations in terms of Assistive Technology.
• Discover easy ways to start incorporating Assistive Technology within your learning environment/institution.
• Explore how AT can support students with disabilities and enable them to meet the demands of a course.

Note: these workshops are an introduction to AT and the types of AT available. They do not offer/cover specific technical support for particular types of AT software.