Working group Services Disability and Studies (AG SBS)
On the home stretch of their schooling, many young people are faced with the crucial question of which path they want to take from now on. At this stage, school students with disabilities often doubt whether one of these paths might not present too many obstacles. At Dresden University of Technology, these young people are given the necessary security for a decision to study. Since 1990 the Working Group Services Disability and Studies (AG SBS) has been supporting students with visual impairments and reading disabilities as well as chronic and mental illnesses.
© Lucas Vogel
Working group Services Disability and Studies (AG SBS)
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Visiting address:
Andreas-Pfitzmann-Bau, Room 1056, 1058, 1063 Nöthnitzer Straße 46
01069 Dresden
Postal address:
TUD Dresden University of Technology
Faculty of Computer Science
Chair for Human Computer Interaction
AG Services Behinderung und Studium
Nöthnitzer Straße 46
01187 Dresden
Our services at a glance
We in the AG SBS advise and support students and prospective students in many ways. Attached to the Chair for Human-Computer Interaction at the Faculty of Computer Science, our basis is the preparation of accessible literature with our transcription service. We produce barrier-free documents from technical and other teaching materials necessary for scientific use in cooperation with Europe-wide publishers and lecturers at the TU Dresden. These documents are available via the 'Electronic Bibliography and Information System for Blind and Visually Impaired Students' (ELVIS) directly on site or via interlibrary loan for interested parties. According to §45 UrhG, eligible users are exclusively persons with a proven visual and/or reading disability.
In addition, our teaching and workstation system provides a room specially designed to meet the needs of students. Over the years, we have built up a collection of different assistive technologies such as Braille displays, blackboard cameras and various others, which can be used in this room or on loan. In addition, upon request and in coordination with the lecturers in charge, this room can be used as an examination room, which is equipped to a high technical standard due to its affiliation to the Faculty of Computer Science.
A additional service offered by the AG SBS is the provision of study-related advice and support in all aspects of everyday study life. Our certified peer counselor takes care of students and prospective students on all questions of participation in the study program and its organization. Her open ear, in addition to her technical background, is an important factor in the daily work of the AG SBS.
How do blind and visually impaired people study at Technische Universität Dresden?
Since the 1990s, the staff of the AG SBS have been helping students with visual impairments at the Technische Universität Dresden. As a service facility for interested parties and students to help them compensate for disadvantages in their studies, the importance of the working group at the TU grew. In the beginning, it was students of computer science who made use of the services offered. In the meantime, we offer our services across all faculty boundaries at the entire TU Dresden and for any field of study. In close cooperation with the students and their lecturers, we provide solutions that break down emerging barriers during the course of study.
Blind and visually impaired students study on the entire TU Dresden campus as well as in the Carl Gustav Carus Dresden University Hospital. Nevertheless, they are not the only students who receive support from AG SBS during their studies. In close cooperation with the staff unit Diversity Management, the representatives for students with disabilities and chronic illness and other partners at the TU Dresden, we work intensively for the fair participation of all students with disabilities as well as chronic and psychologic illnesses. The basis of our efforts is the TU Dresden's action plan [german] adopted in 2017 to implement the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
Our network extends beyond the borders of the university, so that not only the local students but also other people can benefit from our many years of experience in inclusion, the participation of disabled people in their studies and the implementation of digital, barrier-free documents. In this way, we work together with external partners such as the German Central Library for the Blind in Leipzig and similarly focused institutions at other universities in Europe in order to achieve our goals and get help where it is needed.