A change of perspective and wheelchair-suitable desks for increased accessibility at ETH
This autumn, ETH is offering people the chance to navigate its campus in a wheelchair or with a white cane to gain a different perspective. In addition, there are more height-adjustable desks available for students in wheelchairs. These are two new developments from the “Barrier-free at ETH Zurich” programme.
Awareness workshops: “A Change of Perspective”
How do I find the seminar room when my vision is severely impaired? And what’s it like to get to the HPH building, traversing ramps and cobblestones, if I’m in a wheelchair? Overall, what’s it like to move around ETH if you have a disability? ETH Zurich is offering answers to these questions and many new experiences in its “A Change of Perspective” awareness workshops, to be held in August and September this year. Whether in a wheelchair or equipped with a cane and eye mask or simulator goggles, people can experience and tour the university from a completely new perspective.
The workshops are being offered as part of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN CRPD) Action Days at ETH Zurich. Switzerland ratified external pageUN CRPD back in 2014, but people with disabilities continue to face barriers on a daily basis, be it access to buildings, to information or to events. To highlight this fact, raise awareness of the situation and to inform, the external pageCantonal Social Welfare Office and the external pageDisability Conference of the Canton of Zurich are holding UN CRPD Action Days from 27 August to 10 September 2022 throughout the Canton of Zurich. In addition to the awareness workshops, ETH Zurich is also participating with various courses on the topic of accessibility in the digital space, accessible public tours, and a showcase of the “Barrier-free at ETH Zurich” programme at Campus Info on the Hönggerberg campus. Visit ethz.ch/aktionstage-brk for more information about the event and to register.
Height-adjustable desks for students in wheelchairs
Since April 2022, ETH has been gradually equipping many of its classrooms with one or two height‑adjustable desks each wherever possible. A pictogram (see picture) indicates how it works: anyone attending lectures in a wheelchair can now expect to find a desk that they can adjust to the correct height and be able to manoeuvre the wheelchair under the tabletop. Conventional desks are often too high or too low, or have crossbars that make it impossible for some wheelchairs to fit underneath. Of course, the height-adjustable desks can also be used by students who appreciate changing their body position and sometimes want to work standing up.
Barrier-free at ETH Zurich
In autumn 2020, the Executive Board gave the green light to the implementation of the barrier-free project: over the course of the next few years, people with disabilities or people with special needs – whether students, lecturers, researchers, staff or visitors – should benefit from greatly improved access to ETH buildings and services.
The proposed measures will be implemented in 14 sub-projects in three categories: “Construction, Building usage and Architecture”, “Organisation, Process and Culture” and “Technology, Communication and Teaching”.
Further information about the programme and the 14 sub-projects can be found on the programme website.
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