The Faculty of English aims to enable all students, staff and visitors to participate in the academic life of the Faculty to the fullest possible extent, regardless of disability. To achieve this the Faculty relies on the advice of the Disability Resource Centre (DRC, disability.admin.cam.ac.uk). It has a designated member of staff, the Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity Officer (currently Rebecca Anne Barr, rab43@cam.ac.uk) who is responsible for monitoring the Faculty’s performance against this statement, and advising the Faculty Board of issues that need to be addressed. If you have suggestions for how the Faculty can be a more accessible place of study and work, please contact her.
The Disability Liaison Officer (DLO) is Vicky Aldred (administrator@english.cam.ac.uk), who can be approached by students, staff and disabled visitors with questions and issues around disability. The DLO may not know all the answers, but she will find out the answer for you or point you in the right direction for advice, information and support.
Buildings Access
There is a University-wide Buildings Access Guide available which outlines the provision for wheelchair users and those with sensory disabilities in departments and colleges across the University: disability.admin.cam.ac.uk/building-access-guide.
Specific links to the access guides for the sites most often used for Faculty of English lectures and seminars are grouped together here: english.cam.ac.uk/equality.
In brief, the Faculty of English building (9 West Road) has level access at the main entrance and at the rear of the building, through automatic doors. There are five floors in total, including a basement. A large lift provides access to all floors. All lecture and teaching rooms have level seating and are accessible. There are disabled toilets on all floors except the ground floor.
The main entrance to the Faculty of English Library is on the ground floor of the Faculty building, through two wide manual doors. The Library has three floors, accessible via external lift, but you must arrange for a librarian to open the doors from the inside. (email: eflib@hermes.cam.ac.uk, phone: 01223 335077 or text: 07860 023363)
Support for disabled students
The Faculty receives copies of Student Support Documents from the DRC. A Student Support Document (SSD) is a summary of recommendations for supporting and teaching disabled students. It consists of recommendations specific to the student and subject studied, which are concise and focussed. These are sent to seminar leaders where attendance is known in advance. However, an SSD is an advisory, summary document, so if you would like to discuss your needs with seminar leaders in person or with the EDI Officer, please get in touch with them. For lectures where attendance is not known in advance, you should contact the lecturer if you need any adaptation to make their teaching more accessible.
The Faculty will make every effort to meet support requirements, in co-operation with Colleges, the University central administration and the DRC. Impairments which have been accommodated in the past include dyslexia, visual impairment, restricted mobility and chronic illness. Advice and support is available through the DRC: disability.admin.cam.ac.uk/…/advice-support-for-students.
Where study is interrupted due to disability-related circumstances, the College may apply to the Student Registry for examination access arrangements. All personal information is kept completely confidential amongst those members of Faculty who need to be informed.
Support for disabled staff
If you are a disabled staff member, the University’s Occupational Health and Safety Service can provide advice and support. It can arrange an occupational health assessment to support you if a disability, impairment or chronic illness may affect your ability to perform your job. An occupational health practitioner will then be able to give advice and recommendations to you and management regarding necessary modifications and adjustments to the work environment and/or job design.
You can find further support through the University’s Disabled Staff Network (DSN, equality.admin.cam.ac.uk/diversity-networks), which welcomes all individuals who work for the University, a College or an associated institution and consider themselves to be a disabled person.
Induction and Training
Faculty teaching staff all receive copies of this statement, and will be given opportunities to increase their disability awareness through induction and training provided by DRC staff or by information circulated within the Faculty.
From 2019, a confidential file will be kept by the EDI officer into which records of solutions to access issues problems will be placed, in order to create a reference file for future use, and to monitor the Faculty’s response to the needs of students and staff with disabilities.
