SOP - Erasmus

Erasmus

Interuniversity Students Service Program.

Those students that apply for mobility scholarships are willing to make changes, to acquire new knowledge, to have new experiences, to learn… and all this also requires that they adapt to new situations. In this process it is advisable to have support from a professional, apart from that from close people and friends.

Support for pupils with an Erasmus grant or other:

Those who come to the Foundation, in person and via email.
Those who go to other universities (only via email).

Translated articles

Accessibility. Accessible web pages: an outstanding issue

Some years ago, accessibility was associated to the difficulties of access in the physical environment, some difficulties due to architectural and transport obstacles that many people with reduced mobility: blindness, low vision, etc., and old people, had and, in many cases, still have.

After passing the Law for the Social Integration of the Disabled People (1982),1 a group of actions have been developed with regard to measures of accessibility to buildings, urban spaces, transports, etc. Nevertheless, there are still many deficiencies. A worrying aspect is that, after more than twenty years, there are still obstacles in the physical environment –we only have to walk around Barcelona to see that not all the underground, train stations or bus lines in the city are accessible. And, moreover, another worrying issue has appeared: the so-called accessibility to web content.

Recently, we have read in press many news articles about the fact that web pages of official bodies fail in terms of accessibility and that all the portals of these bodies have to be accessible before 2006. The Internet Act2 sets it out clearly. On 31 December 2005, the web pages of State bodies will have to be accessible for everyone. Another example that illustrates the above is the report recently published by the consultancy Activa3 (2004) with the title “Report on the Web Accessibility of Spanish Universities,”4 where they observe that nine out of ten (93.75%) websites of Spanish state universities do not meet the requirements suggested by the European law (level *AA) to make web pages accessible to people with some disability.

In the last few years, Internet has become not only an important resource to obtain all kinds of educational information –academic, informative, leisure, etc.-, on-line but also a resource that makes it easier for us to solve multiple and different tasks from home. We have to consider that many basic services are more and more available to the public in such a way that more and more users can hardly conceive them without using Internet.

1 Law 13/1982, of 7 April, for the social integration of the disabled people (LISMI). BOE, 103, pp. 11106-11. Accessible at: http://www.arrakis.es/~cotton/lex/lismi.htm.
2 Law 34/2002, of 11 July, of services of the information society and electronic trade. http://www.setsi.mcyt.es/legisla/internet/ley34_02/sumario.htm, which, in the “Fifth Additional Regulation: Accessibility for people with disability and the elderly to information provided by electronic means,” establishes: “State Administrations will adopt necessary measures so that the information available in their corresponding Internet pages should be accessible to people with disability and the elderly, in accordance with the generally recognized content accessibility criteria before 31 December 2005.”
3 You can see it at http://www.acctiva.com/
4 You can see it at http://www.acctiva.com/recursos/AcctivaUniversidades.pdf

Although nobody calls the unlimited possibilities of Internet into question, there is a remarkable amount of people that still have difficulties to have access to the net. An example of this is the almost 4 million people with physical, intellectual and sensory disabilities, registered in Spain. While information and communication technologies offer huge opportunities of education, work, information and participation in different fields of social life for people with special needs, we have to design accessible pages so that any person, regardless of their personal limitations, can use and understand the content of this site or page and are not socially excluded.

Therefore, if in the 20th century we still talked about obstacles in the physical environment, now in the 21st century, we have to add those in the virtual environment. To avoid the exclusion of quite a large group, we have to deal with accessibility in these new fields.

Internet accessibility intends to eliminate, or at least minimize, the obstacles that some users find when surfing the Internet and thus have access to information. Users can be people with physical, sensory, intellectual disability, elderly people or in relation to the technology they use. Every user has some specific and different needs that have to be considered when designing web pages in order not to exclude anyone: some difficulties to understand content, to see, to surf with little intuition; but also technical difficulties, such as the fact of having old computers without multimedia systems, or first generation browsers, or small screens, or slow Internet connections, etc., as is usual in some areas in the world.

Therefore, we shouldn’t, as far as possible, promote the so-called digital fracture in any of its meanings.

For this reason, some norms and patterns have been established to define what the design of an accessible web page has to be like. The entity in charge was the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) through the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) group. The WAI group has published many documents to provide web page designers or developers with a procedure to verify the application and precise “techniques” to make pages accessible or to correct those that are not. These documents can be read in their web page. They also published a brief Guide to create accessible web sites (“Quick Tips”). As the Guide content is short and can be illustrative to understand the basic principles in designing accessible content, we reproduce it completely below.

1. Images and animations. Use the alt attribute to describe the function of each visual.
2. Image maps. Use the client-side map and text for hotspots.
3. Multimedia. Provide captioning and transcripts of audio, and descriptions of video.
4. Hypertext links. Use text that makes sense when read out of context. For example, avoid “click here."
5. Page organization. Use headings, lists, and consistent structure. Use cascade style sheets (CSS) for layout and style, where possible.
6. Graphs and charts. Summarize or use the longdesc attribute.
7. Scripts, applets and plug-ins. Provide alternative content in case active features are inaccessible or unsupported.
8. Frames. Use the noframes element and meaningful titles.
9. Tables. Make line-by-line reading sensible. Summarize. Avoid using tables to give format to pages.
10. Check your web pages once finished. Validate the HTML code. Use tools, checklist, and only-text browsers to verify accessibility.

If we take these guidelines into account when designing a web page, we will be sure that the basic requirements for an accessible design of web pages have been met.

Of all these points, we may stand out the seventh, which refers to scripts, applets... and a series of technologies that provide the web page with some incredible interactive features, with many means and design, and which undoubtedly contribute to the shift from a www understood as an information storage and hypertext exchange system to a www as an interactive and sensitive environment for the user. Some of these technologies are widely known, such as Flash and Java. The problem, as we can see, is that many creators will not stop using these technologies in their sites, as they give them capacities that, in the context, are necessary. Therefore, for the moment, there will be a high number of non-accessible web pages. The proposal, then, will be to create accessible surfing alternatives in the same web space, for example, a textual access.

An accessible web page must also be well designed. There are designers that avoid, on principle, spectacular designs, and focus on good accessible designs; moreover, we have to consider that accessibility has some additional benefits, such as the increase of users that have access to the page, compliance with current laws and social responsibility towards people with some disability or any other kind of conditioning factor as specified above.

If every one of us, in the practice of our diverse and varied professions –educators, politicians, architects, computer experts, designers, etc.-, remembered the principles of universal design and global accessibility in our interventions, we would probably ensure the basic functions in daily life without discriminating against users due to their disability.

We are at the beginning of the 21st century and we still need to announce the year 2003 as the European year for people with disability, pass laws such as Law 51/2003, of 2 December, of equal opportunities, no discrimination and universal accessibility of people with disability. Personally, all this makes us think, and we assume that everyone will reach his own conclusions, but we didn’t want to end this piece of writing without recognizing the great advance in these last 25 years as regards the attention to people with disabilities. We also have to stand out that we all have a long way ahead. The permanent social presence and the visibility of people with disability increase joint responsibility and participation. A construction of the collective image of disability enriches the community’s value system and allows us to move towards a full normalization in an inclusive society. Although this is a long process, we are advancing in this direction.

Finally, here you have some possible readings for those of you that want a deeper vision of this topic.

1. The Provincial Council of Barcelona, with the support of diverse groups and entities of people with disability, has made available for everyone the first style book (link) in Spain to design accessible web pages. According to the people in charge, the objective of this manual is to facilitate surfing to people with cognitive difficulties and visual, hearing and motor problems. It is also addressed to people with autism, without previous experience in the Net, non-educated or with a limited command of languages. The manual can be consulted at the following address http://www.diba.es/lled/default.asp.
2. You can also consult the web page: http://www.a-diba.net/ of the Provincial Council of Barcelona, where you can find a lot of information about this topic and also an example of an accessible page.
3. Short guide to create accessible web sites. Can be consulted at http://www.sidar.org/recur/desdi/wai/guia_ca.php
4. How to make good web pages by Daniel Clemente Laboreo - September 2004 (updated until January 2005), http://www.danielclemente.com/html/index.html
5. Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) Guidelines: http://www.w3.org/wai
6. IST KA1 Special Needs Applications Relating to Persons with Special Needs Including the Disabled and Elderly: http://www.cordis.lu/ist/ka1/special_needs/home.html
7. ACCESSIBLE WEB DESIGN “Design for All” http://www.sidar.org/acti/cursos/bsas/ref/
8. Foundation Sidar-Universal Access Seminar SIDAR http://www.sidar.org/index.php

Barcelona, 13 April 2005.

Elisabeth Alomar Kurz, Jordi Simón Llovet

Justification for the atenes program

This program springs from the reflection about and confirmation of needs that our working team has developed for the five academic years that SOP has been working.

1. Justification
2. Rights and duties of every student with special needs included in the program
3. Recognition of students with SEN
4. Awareness raising among the educational community
5. Implementation of the program

1. Justification

Setting up a program for the inclusion of students with disability in higher education would be justified by the following fundamental points:

1.1. Law 13/1982, of 7 April, for the social integration of the disabled people, mentions specifically the integration of people with disability within the mainstream educational system in Article 23.
1.2. The exclusion from special education of all those people that, due to a multidimensional diagnostic study, are considered able to receive education in mainstream institutions, whether public or private.
1.3. In Article 31, this Law refers to people with disability that are studying at university and whose disability inhibits their adaptation to the exam regime established in every sense. In this case, students can ask for an increase in the number of times they can sit an exam, and the Centre has to grant it as long as it makes up for their difficulty. Without lowering the level required, tests will be adapted to the characteristics of the student’s disability.
1.4. Professional guidance will be determined by the corresponding services, based on reports from multiprofessional teams. In this process some aspects will be considered: education received and to be received, willingness for social promotion, and current job opportunities in every case, as well as attention to personal motivations, attitudes, and professional preferences.
1.5. Royal Decree, of 21 January 2000, which regulates selection procedures for students that meet the necessary access requirements to enrol in university centres.
1.6. The coherence with the principle of close, personalized and humanist attention toward students in Blanquerna centres, materialized in the methodology of seminars, the task of teachers - tutors and student support services such as SIOE (Student Information and Guidance Service), SOP (Psychopedagogical Guidance Service), GPP (Professional Promotion Bureau), and SAAP (Psychopedagogical Attention and Guidance Service), demands it.
1.7. The respect for the student is what makes us constantly look for new features of quality in our educational task. This search for quality has to be understood as having the capacity to adapt to new situations, as in this case, with the creation of the ATENES program.

2. Rights and duties of every student with special needs included in the program.

Right to choose studies.
Right to be responsible for one’s own curriculum and one’s own options.
Right to the adaptation of the academic curriculum.
Right to have access to information with appropriate support.
Right to academic and non-academic participation and to aids and social integration.
Right to all logistic conditions for an independent life .
Right to inclusive education.

From all these rights, the corresponding duties derive, as well as those expected from a university student.

3. Recognition of students with SEN

The recognition of the condition as a person with disability is carried out through the disability certificate. Having this certificate makes it possible to receive certain social aid such as some kind of pension.

The criterion common to all Spanish universities to delimit the population of students with disability is to hold this disability certificate. With this certificate, students can have access to reserved places, which account for 3% of the total places in every centre.

From the ATENES program, we consider that the condition of disability in higher studies should not focus, exclusively, on having this disability certificate; this is why in this program we will deal with all those students requesting this service, with or without certificate, that have some disability.

4. Awareness raising among the educational community

The adaptation among people is a two-directional process, with an uninterrupted approach that promotes mutual knowledge. In this process, students, teachers, and all the educational community have to commit. This implies, from everyone, sufficiently flexible attitudes that allow for some progress.

On the other hand, a student’s inclusion cannot be possible if he is like a stranger to us, and for this reason we have to approach our students in order to get to know them in detail. This knowledge should not encourage far too tolerant or lenient attitudes, which in the long term can prevent students from carrying out the appropriate process to adjust expectations and their own reality. For this, proposals of objectives and means have to be flexible, creative and provide students with capacity for initiative. Then we could efficiently promote their development of skills and encourage their personal and academic growth according to their own rate and their individual capacities.

5. Implementation of the program

5.1. Taking a census. A first step to begin this program is to take a census with all the students enrolled in centres of the Blanquerna Foundation. Data collection starts with the students’ declaration in their application form, with students requesting help directly to tutors or teachers, with the detection by SIOE and SOP.
5.2. Giving personal and academic support and guidance to students in the Foundation centres that request it; to do so, they have to previously arrange an appointment at SIOE, Blanquerna FPCEE. In academic guidance, special emphasis will be laid on choosing the appropriate curricular itinerary.
5.3. Offering support and guidance to the coordinators of the different studies, tutors and teachers in the Blanquerna Foundation centres.
5.4. Looking after the promotion of necessary technological aid systems for students that require them, so that their education is carried out with the highest quality.
- Ancillary technologies
- Rehabilitation technologies
- Technologies to manipulate and control the environment
- Technologies for personal motility. Augmentative and alternative communication systems
- Computer access technologies
- Alternative and augmentative systems to have access to information in the environment
- Basic skill training systems
- Others
5.5. The suppression of architectural obstacles has to be foreseen as arranged both in State Laws (Law 15/95 of 30/05/95) and in autonomous rules (Decree 135/95 of 24/03/95) in a period to be determined.
5.6. Coordinate support services that can be integrated within the same university structure (voluntary service, SIOE...) or external support (ONCE, FECOM, EIAPAS...).
5.7. Look after education, guidance and support for the group of young volunteers.
5.8. Curricular adaptations: Every teacher interprets and determines the final content of every area, matter or discipline as set by the official curriculum. Curricular adaptations are related to every teacher’s interpretation of the official curriculum; in this sense, we intend to give a response to the specific educational needs of certain groups.
- 5.8.1. Adaptations in curriculum access: They are modifications or provision of special, material or communication resources that will help students with disability to have access to mainstream curriculum. These actions can, by themselves, avoid making significant modifications upon the curriculum.
  - Location of students in the most appropriate place in the classroom
  - Adaptation of spaces or furniture, providing specific equipment and resources
  - Incorporation of specific help so that students can use classroom material better
  - Adaptation of materials to promote access to the information given in the classroom
  - Promotion of every student’s personal resources
- 5.8.2. Non-significant curricular adaptations: They are understood as modifications made to attend to the students’ individual differences with regard to method used and/or assessment procedure of activities used to attain final knowledge goals (being flexible with time scheduled for an exam, possibility of having oral exams, etc.). These modifications do not affect mainstream curricular development.
5.9. Social and working integration
- Collaboration with the Professional Promotion Bureau, at the Blanquerna FPCEE, and with services of Employment Offices in other centres of the Foundation.
5.10. Relation with other institutions
- The specific service of SOP will intend to establish appropriate coordination with other institutions with the aim of achieving coordinated work among different professionals and possible help available. It will also establish contacts with other universities with the aim of sharing experiences and constantly improving the quality of the program.

The development of the ATENES program and follow-up of its users will be carried out following the characteristic features of the caring model offered by SOP.

Guidance and support

What should we do in front of a person with reduced mobility?
If he can walk, but slowly, or needs some kind of help: crutches, to lean on your arm, etc.
Ask him to tell you how you can help him.
Offer him your arm, don’t take his.
Adjust your gait to his, don’t make him go too fast.
Etc.

If he uses a wheelchair

Sink to his level to work or talk to him (sit down, bend down..., as needed).
Put things within his reach.
Treat his wheelchair gently, as there is a person on it.
Ask him where he wants to go.
Tell him where you are taking him to and why every time you move him.
When you stop, put his wheelchair in a safe place and the brakes on.
If he is autonomous, help him when he asks you, and do as he tells you.
If he isn’t autonomous, you have to make the effort to know what method suits him best and let him tell you how to do the manoeuvring.
Put his wheelchair properly before carrying it and check its brakes.
Check the position of the disabled person’s arms and legs. He may have sensory disorders, which would prevent him from noticing blows, injuries, burns, etc.
See that his clothes, cushions, blankets, etc., are well fastened so they can’t get caught in the wheels.
If you ask him anything, you have to remember that he may have difficulty answering. Give him some time to express himself.
You have to be discreet and don’t ask for the origin or causes of his disability if you see that he can feel uncomfortable.
You shouldn’t push his wheelchair too fast nor turn it abruptly without telling him in advance.
You should never raise his wheelchair on the mobile parts: armrests or footrests, as you could cause an accident to happen if they get caught in your hands.
Be careful with the other pedestrians when moving his wheelchair.
You shouldn’t forget that the disabled person can feel ignored if you speak to another person out of his sight.
If you are walking in the street, cross through road signs. Tell always the disabled person about the manoeuvring you are doing.
In an uneven terrain, it will be easier for you to push his wheelchair if you lean it on its thick wheels. This way you will also prevent falls.
Try to avoid irregularities on the ground (potholes, stones, etc.).
Never lean his wheelchair on the side, its weight can be too much for you, nor forward, as that way the person can fall down.
In uneven, very steep, slippery terrains, etc., you should go very slowly and hold his wheelchair firmly. If possible, try to find another way.

What should we do in front of a person with visual impairment?

We all find it a bit peculiar to be or interact with people with some unusual circumstance, such as people with blindness like me, and we try to be polite in our behaviour with them. This is normal, but I would like you to behave as naturally as possible.

And, nevertheless, there are some specific aspects that can help me:

To talk to me when we are in a group, I would like you to say my name or gently touch my arm.

When I need to find a place to sit down, I would appreciate it if you put my hand on the chair back. This small reference will be enough and it is a simple way of helping me.

If you accompany me in some route outdoors or indoors, it would be quite comfortable for me if you let me take your elbow and walked a bit further than me.

If we are sharing a meal, it would be useful if you described the food and its distribution in the dish.

If we are together and you see some elements in our environment that you think may interest me, it would be useful if you described them to me. You shouldn’t feel embarrassed to use such words as see, look, colours, etc. I use the common language of our society.

But, above all, what we like the best is that you feel comfortable and talk to us spontaneously. For people with blindness it is really distressing that you talk to our companion to ask or tell us anything. If you have doubts or something seems strange, be honest with us and ask, you will see how everything is much simpler and nicer both for you and for us.

In any case, in every relationship there are easy and difficult moments, and we are not any exception.

From ideas given generously to me by Rosa Lucerga

Griselda Tubau

3rd article - Suggestions to promote deaf students' stay at university

In relation to the student

Deaf students receive information mainly through vision: lip reading, facial expressions, body language, written information, by using the blackboard, etc.

The teacher has to be always facing the students so that they can read his lips; therefore, it is not advisable to turn towards the blackboard while talking, moving to and fro while explaining, cover his mouth with a pencil or his hand, etc.

We should allow deaf students to sit on a place in the classroom where they can see their classmates better.

Students shouldn’t be facing the light. Lip reading is easier if the light doesn’t fall on them directly.

Speaking slowly and clearly is better than shouting and talking with exaggerated mouth movements.

We should avoid noisy areas. Watch out for vibrations.

If the student uses hearing aids or cochlear implants, we should use, whenever possible, an FM station to approach the sound stimuli to the receiver.

Students have to be always properly informed and we have to be sure that they understand the rules and norms of classroom behaviour, as well as the possible modifications in activities, changes of schedules, etc. They should have all this information in writing.

Content

Students should be given contextual information, advancing the topic to be worked on.

We have to provide them with a written guide of that theoretical content that is needed so that the deaf students can acquire some topics or the subject as a whole.

Just repeating what you have said does not always improve the deaf student’s understanding; it is better to explain again the information given with different structures or words.

It is very positive to check the deaf student’s degree of understanding.

Method

Deaf students have difficulties when writing and looking at the person talking to them at the same time. We should take this into account when taking notes, looking at a presentation using ICT or books when they have to follow an explanation, etc.

Deaf students have to keep their attention constantly when reading your lips; sometimes, we should leave some spaces between explanations, give them some time.

It is very positive to promote tasks that enhance interaction among students.

Deaf students should get the activities to be carried out in class in writing, in order to avoid wasting time, and also to eliminate some possible comprehension confusions when data are written on the blackboard or are given orally.

As students are attentive to class activities, it is usually very positive that, at the end, a classmate gives them the notes.

We have to clarify doubts to deaf students, provide them with new information, solve their problems. In this sense, it would be convenient to promote individualized attention outside the classroom.

Materials

Visual aids are very useful: the overhead projector, using the blackboard, written documents, diagrams, graphs, etc., especially when explaining something new.

If we use the blackboard as the means to transmit information, we have to do it with some order and always providing students with indicators that allow them to follow the information (pointing with our finger, underlining, using different colours, etc.).

Evaluation

In principle, we have to assess deaf students on the same basis as hearing students and with the same responsibilities.

We should preferably opt for continuous assessment.

In written tests, we should give more value to content than to formal aspects.

We have to give priority to objective tests or to questions with short answers, rather than long questions or developing topics.

Deaf students should have all the time they need to do their exams.

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