Q&A with our Senior Accessibility Manager

Accessibility is a core value at Arden and we’re very excited that we have a new colleague to help in this area! We sat down with Kasia to find out more about her role and how students and staff can work with her to improve access at Arden…

What’s your background and why did you choose this role at Arden?

I have just come from a digital accessibility role within the Student Support and Wellbeing team at another university. My main focus there was to ensure students had alternative formats and assistive technologies to support their access to education, as well as making sure our systems and services were as accessible as possible. I was really excited to see that accessibility was such a core value for Arden and everyone I’ve met so far has been such a huge champion for this work, which is really inspiring. I also have a background in training and skills development, so I’m looking forward to using this to share best practice with colleagues so we can improve the experience for students and staff alike.

What will you be focusing on in the next few months?

Lots! There are some new digital accessibility regulations, the European Accessibility Act, which have just come in, so I’m working hard on getting us up and running with those, as well as learning more about all of our digital systems and campus spaces so I can see what our priorities are. I’m really keen to find out what the main issues might be, so please do email me if you have any accessibility bug-bears or ideas for how we can improve things.

Why is accessibility important ?

So many reasons! Firstly, for those who need access to things due to a disability, neurodiversity or mental health need, it is absolutely crucial. If our materials, spaces and processes aren’t accessible then we are disadvantaging loads of our students and staff. We aren’t talking about small numbers of people here – nearly 25% of us have some form of disability, long term health condition or mental health need. And that’s just people who have reported it – the real figures are likely to be much higher. Plus, we have regulations that we have to follow so there’s also a legal reason why it’s important. There’s also our reputation to think about – if our students, staff and visitors have a good (or bad) experience with us, they will talk about it! There’s also of course the humanitarian reason, which may be the biggest of all – we should all be aiming to ensure everyone has fair and equal access to work and study so that we all have the opportunity to achieve our full potential.

What do you wish everyone knew about accessibility?

That it’s not that difficult! It’s really simple to embed accessible practices into your work and the impact it has, not just on disabled users (who need it) but on anyone who just wants to access materials in a different way, is absolutely huge. You can make really meaningful changes to the way you work if you just have the right tools and skills. I’m a big fan of demystifying accessibility so that everyone can make their work more flexible, more inclusive and more engaging. There are already some great resources for this on the EDI Share point Site but I want to source even more. I’d love to hear your thoughts, concerns and ideas to make this happen.

Get In contact

Kasia is working on our response to the European Accessibility Act and making our digital and physical spaces more accessible for students and staff. If you'd like to get involved or have any questions or issues you'd like to raise, please email accessibility@arden.ac.uk