Braille and tactile materials to support Vision-Impaired students – workshop reflections

To celebrate World Braille Day (4 Jan), we’re releasing this blog post about a workshop that we ran in October 2025, introducing staff to braille and ways to support our blind students who use braille at the University. Despite the prevalence of digital technologies, braille is still very important for literacy, to support multiple modes … Continue reading Braille and tactile materials to support Vision-Impaired students – workshop reflections

Braille Matters

The Jisc Accessibility Community ran a Drop-In on the 1st October entitled ‘Braille Matters’. We had a very enlightening presentation by Elizabeth McCann from the Scottish Sensory Centre, introducing the history of braille and why it is still important despite the prevalence of digital technology. I was invited to give my perspective as a learning … Continue reading Braille Matters

Enhancing Inclusion for Neurodivergent Students in Mathematics and Statistics

17 September 2025 saw me visiting the University of Coventry for the Enhancing Inclusion for Neurodivergent Students in Mathematics and Statistics workshop. This was held in collaboration with the University of Bath and funded by the London Mathematical Society (LMS). The event was held at the Library, a wonderful building with silent and group study … Continue reading Enhancing Inclusion for Neurodivergent Students in Mathematics and Statistics

Preparing to teach vision-impaired students

As we head towards the start of semester, it’s a good time to prepare for our students. There will be lecturers new to teaching students who are vision-impaired (VI). This blog post aims to review the tips, support and resources available to help you with your teaching. 1. Make digitally accessible resources The first step … Continue reading Preparing to teach vision-impaired students

Creating tactile graphics for VI students – part 3

Tactile resources are useful to supplement the digital versions of resources, enabling a student to use multiple senses to understand the data, patterns and connections. In Part 1 of our Tactile Graphics blog series, I was just starting to tackle the heatmap resource shown below. Lots of digital tools are good at providing data through … Continue reading Creating tactile graphics for VI students – part 3

Creating tactile graphics for VI students – part 1

Alice and I form the digital accessibility unit at York. Disability Services often refer students to us for additional digital skills support. We also offer support to the lecturers who are working with these students, some of whom have severe visual impairment. We had a discussion about our experience so far this academic year on … Continue reading Creating tactile graphics for VI students – part 1

5 Feb and 11 Feb 2025 Workshop: Supporting Visually Impaired students who use screen magnifiers

Sign up for Wednesday 5 Feb • 1pm to 2.30pm • LFA/144 Sign up for Tuesday 11 Feb • 1pm to 2.30pm • LFA/144 Drawing on the experiences of staff and current students, this workshop for Uni of York staff and students explores how teaching practices can be made more accessible to visually impaired students. … Continue reading 5 Feb and 11 Feb 2025 Workshop: Supporting Visually Impaired students who use screen magnifiers

Reflections on the Braille in Focus event, Nov 2024, Edinburgh

The Braille in Focus event in November 2024 was organised by the Scottish Sensory Centre to celebrate the 200 years since braille was created by Louis Braille in France. Apart from learning about the history of braille, it was an opportunity to meet with other people supporting blind students and to try out some of … Continue reading Reflections on the Braille in Focus event, Nov 2024, Edinburgh