This is an overview of how Information Services assists disabled staff and applicants to ensure our workplace is as accessible and inclusive as possible. Applicants We welcome applications from disabled staff. All individuals, if invited for interview, will be asked if they require any reasonable adjustments for the interview itself. We will also use our equal opportunities monitoring form to ask if you consider yourself as a disabled person. We do this in order to meet our legislative requirements, but also so we can monitor applications from each protected characteristic, to measure our progress on the equality and diversity actions we are taking. Please be assured your equal opportunities form will not go with your application and the panel will not know if you have declared yourself as being a disabled person or not. New Starts Before starting employment at the University, but after your post has been confirmed, you should be contacted by your line manager to ask if you require any reasonable adjustments. If for any reason this does not happen and you wish to request reasonable adjustments please do not hesitate to contact your manager to discuss. Ideally, wherever possible we will aim to ensure any reasonable adjustments requested are in place for your first day. If you think you may require assistance when evacuating a building in an emergency please let us know. Existing Staff We understand that things change for members of staff and therefore we encourage you to discuss any reasonable adjustments you require with your line manager. The ongoing effectiveness of these should be discussed at regular intervals. Please feel free to discuss any reasonable adjustments you wish to request or changes to adjustments you already have in place at any time. Staff can also contact the University Staff Disability Advice Service and the Occupational Health service. The Staff Disability Advice Service (SDAS) can provide advice and guidance to disabled including deaf, and/ or neurodivergent colleagues as well as their line managers. Staff can contact the service to get advice on reasonable adjustments in the workplace or information about Access to Work. More information can be found on the Staff Disability Advice Service Webpages Staff Disability Advice Service Health and Safety Department Contact details Work: 0131 651 4252 Email: StaffDisability@ed.ac.uk Occupational Health can advise staff and their managers on issues related to their health at work. Staff can self-refer or their manager can refer them. Occupational Health Website Occupational Health Service Health and Safety Department The University of Edinburgh Contact details Work: +44 (0)131 650 8190 Email: Occupational.Health@ed.ac.uk In addition, IS runs a disability computing support service for staff. The service aims to support disabled staff in the workplace when required. The service is able to suggest various assistive software, hardware or standard IT solutions that might be of assistance. A range of assistive technology can be borrowed by staff to ascertain usefulness before committing to a purchase. More details can be found at: Assistive technology for staff Broader View The Information Services website is evaluated regularly to review its accessibility. This site includes accessibility information for staff. We review the accessibility of the software we procure from both the end user's view and an administrative view. A specialist Disability Information Team is employed to review services and increase accessibility of all the services and facilities provided by Information Services. Staff training is provided on the Equality Act 2010, The Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018, testing of websites and applications for accessibility, Equality Impact Assessment (EqIA) writing and on disability issues in general including how to make documents and teaching sessions accessible. In line with the Scottish Specific Duty regulations 2012, we aim to equality impact assess all new Information Services policies and procedures. In 2017 and 2018 we were awarded The Scottish Union of Supported Employment Inclusive Workplace Award. Further Information We are happy for any feedback, comments and suggestions regarding facilities and services that Information Services provides for disabled staff. If you have a point you would like to raise, please contact the Disability Information Officer on 0131 650 6645 or email viki.galt@ed.ac.uk. Alternative formats If you require this document in an alternative format such as Braille, large print etc please contact the Head of Disability Information on 0131 650 6645 or email viki.galt@ed.ac.uk. This article was published on 2024-10-08
