Disability Accommodations help students with disabilities or chronic illnesses participate in academic studies and instruction on an equal footing. For faculty members, the Disability Accommodations page provides important information about the types of accommodations available and how they can appropriately support students in their courses.

Go to the Accommodations page

The IAAP's (International Association of Accessibility Professionals) digital training course “Accessible Teaching” provides foundational knowledge and practical recommendations for designing accessible courses and digital documents. The self-paced course takes about 20 to 25 hours to complete and can be started and worked through at the participant’s own pace. During the pilot phase, participation is free for faculty members at the University of Siegen. To earn the certificate, participants can subsequently take an in-person exam at the University of Siegen.

Go to the training page

The Digital Teaching portal brings together tips for designing digital course content to be accessible. It focuses on practical guidance based, among other things, on the resources offered by the University of Siegen and recommendations from the Competence Center for Digital Accessibility in North Rhine-Westfalia.

Go to the Accessibility section on the Digital Teaching portal

We would like to draw your attention to Prof. Ennuschat’s article, “Das Verbot der Diskriminierung von Menschen mit Behinderungen (Art. 3 Abs. 3 S. 2 GG) und seine Bedeutung für Nachteilsausgleiche in Prüfungen”, which is relevant for instructors and examination offices. The article was published in the journal *Studium und Beratung* 4/2020.

In the article, Prof. Ennuschat explains his position that accommodations may only be denied if—provided the other requirements are met—the purpose of the examination absolutely requires it. In his view, this follows from the prohibition of disadvantage or discrimination enshrined in Article 3, paragraph 3, sentence 2 of the German Basic Law and Article 5, paragraph 2 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Prof. Ennuschat is the author of the legal opinion “Nachteilsausgleiche für Studierende mit Behinderungen – Prüfungsrechtliche Bausteine einer inklusiven Hochschule”, which he prepared on behalf of the German Student Services (Deutsches Studentenwerk).

You can view the article here (in German)