New rules for the Sign Language Interpreting Service

27/03/2019

UAB’s Committee for Students and Employability, led by Vice-Rector Sara Moreno, approved the regulations to create a series of guidelines on how the sign language services work for students with an auditory disability. This way, rights and tasks linked with this service will be established and guaranteed through these new rules.

This service is managed by the PIUNE, UAB’s Care Center for Disability, which works to facilitate equal access to higher education and autonomy to everyone. In fact, more than 5 students had the support of this entity during the last 10 years. Last year, for example, three users of PIUNE used the sign language interpreting service.

It’s actually the demand growth of this service and the university’s political commitment for guaranteeing rights and inclusion for people with disability, which are written in the Second Action Plan on Disability (PAD II) in UAB, the factors that triggered the need to establish these rules.

The PIUNE is currently counting on the support of counsel Àgils, specialized in accessibility, to guarantee the interpreters’ service. This company, specialized in adapting communication and information for people with sensory disabilities (auditory and visual), is the one that provides the interpreter that goes to class or any other teaching activity with the student based on the students’ demands and the corresponding agreement of the tutor with the faculty and PIUNE.

The content in the document says that:

• The Sign Language Interpreting Service (ILS) is provided to students that are taking courses they enrolled for the first time, up until a maximum of 60 credits per year. This service is also provided for courses repeated for the second and third time, but with different restrictions.
• ILS service is also provided for actions within the Tutorial Action Plan; for mandatory external internship; for the Bachelor’s Degree Final Project and for courses enrolled within an exchange programme.

• Attending the 100% numbers of in-class lectures or justify the absences.
• Inform of the academic timetable distribution and notify in case of any alteration regarding the courses or any incident that may affect the number of hours planned for the ILS service.
• Notify of any incidence or trouble when following the classes or other aspects related to the ILS service.
• Make sure the corresponding department approves the number of hours requested for each course (lectures, seminars, trips and other mandatory activities) before enrolling.