UAB libraries provide study resources for students with special needs

Magnifying glasses to read, special software for students with learning difficulties and cubicles for reduced-mobility users at the UAB libraries are some of the resources promoted by the PIUNE, with the support of the Social Council.

02/06/2017

At the end of 2006, the PIUNE, the Service Department for People with Disabilities, started a project to help students with physical disabilities, reduced mobility and sensory disabilities. This project promotes technological solutions to help students with special needs access information and work autonomously. In the academic year 2016/2017, the Social Council has supported this project in order to renew the equipment at the resource centre and the cubicles for reduced-mobility users, due to the increase on the number of students with special needs in recent years.

The cubicles for reduced-mobility users are located on the fourth floor of the Communication Library and General Newspaper Archives, the Humanities Library and the Social Sciences Library. These spaces are equipped with the newest technology—voice recognition and text enlargement software, and peripherals and hardware such as adapted mouse devices and keyboards— to guarantee access to information for everyone.

In relation to the renewal of the technological equipment, the cubicles in the libraries are now equipped with Claro Read, a software for students with learning difficulties (dyslexia and ADHD), due to the increase on the number of university students suffering from these disorders.

There are also 9 magnifying glasses to read texts on screen, aimed at students with visual impairments. This glasses can be found at the Humanities Library, the Science and Technology Library, the Medical Library, the Veterinary Library, the Social Sciences Library the Communication Library and General Newspaper Archives, on UAB campus in Sabadell, at the UAB Germans Trias i Pujol Hospital and the Vall d’Hebron Hospital.

PIUNE’s technical team will provide training for library personnel, in order to promote the use of these new devices among students with special needs. PIUNE has also established an access protocol for the cubicles.