Disability Support

Birkbeck offers a range of specialist hardware, computer software and accessories to help students and staff with disabilities and dyslexia. Our Disability IT Support Specialist, can offer help and advice in tailoring support to individual needs.

ITS workstation rooms

There are PCs in eight workstation rooms around the College which students can use whenever they are not booked for teaching. The PCs allow personal tailoring of the desktop - the size of the icons and text, and the colour scheme can be changed and saved to suit individual needs.

We have:

• Software for people with Dyslexia
• Facilities for people with visual impairment
• Keyboards and mice
• Large monitors and flexible monitor arms
• Adjustable height tables
• Orthopaedic chairs

Library Provision

Assistive Technology is installed on the PCs in the library and there is a Library Assistive Technology on the first floor of the library. For more information contact Library Access Support  Tel: 020 7631 6491.

More assistive technology

Scanners:

There are two PCs with scanners attached in the Assistive Technology Booth (room 411 in Malet street main building). These have a range of specialist scanning software designed for people with Dyslexia and Visual Impairments, including OmniPage and ClaroRead.

Speech input software:

Dragon Naturally Speaking speech input software is installed in the Assistive Technology Booth (room 411 Malet street main building) which has been specifically set aside for students needing to use speech input or other assistive technology in a quiet environment.

Demonstrations and information

If you would like a demonstration of assistive technology; help with customising your PC; a help sheet or manual on assistive technology; general advice on how we can help, or if you are a member of staff interested in or in need of assistive technology, then please contact Disability IT Support,  disit@bbk.ac.uk Tel: 020 7079 0717

E-mail distribution list

Birkbeck has an e-mail list that is uses to send out information that may be of use to our students with disabilities and dyslexia. If you have declared a disability then you should automatically receive these e-mails. If you do not receive these and would like to then please contact Disability IT Support, disit@bbk.ac.uk. You can use these instructions to unsubscribe.

Access from home

If you have an Internet connection, a number of College resources are available from home. As always, you will need your ITS username and password. The services include: College based electronic mail, Intranet, Web sites, documentation, Library Catalogue, Birkbeck Electronic Library, (including electronic journals, databases, reading lists and exam papers). ITS provides a Virtual Private Network (VPN) service providing access to electronic resources requiring network address validation, and the VPN service also provides access to personal filestore.

Wireless and mobile services

The Wireless and Mobile service allows access from personal equipment (including laptops and some PDAs) to the College Network for access to resources required for study.

Documentation

An increasing number of starter manuals are provided for the assistive technology available within Birkbeck. ITS provides a wide range of documentation on how to use mainstream software packages.

Contact Disability IT Support, disit@bbk.ac.uk, Tel: 020 7079 0717, for information sheets in your preferred format.