AUT’s progress towards the Disability Action Plan

Since launching the Disability Action Plan, AUT has continued to make progress towards creating a more accessible, inclusive and equitable university for disabled and Deaf students. This work includes improvements to learning environments, support services, accessibility systems, inclusive teaching practice and the overall student experience.

Become disability confident

We're continuing to build disability confidence and inclusive practice across the university, so students experience more accessible and supportive learning environments:

• Introduced professional learning workshops around Neurodiversity, Hidden disabilities and Mental Health to strengthen inclusive practice
• Partnered with Deaf academics and students during NZSL Week to deliver New Zealand Sign Language and Deaf culture content
• Continued collaboration with universities across Aotearoa New Zealand through accessibility and Universal Design for Learning (UDL) communities of practice to share ideas and improve inclusive learning experiences
• Published a "Becoming a disability confident employer" web resource, and delivered workshops for industry partners on adaptive technologies and inclusive hiring practices
• Expanding the disability resource library for staff, with new guidance on accessing and understanding Academic Accommodation Plans and the reasonable accommodations available by disability

Implement inclusive policies and practices

We're strengthening the systems and processes behind the scenes so that support is easier to access and more consistent across the university:

• Reviewed and redesigned Personal Emergency Evacuation Procedures for a more practical and inclusive university-wide approach
• Updated enrolment processes to improve disability identification
• Enhanced reporting and dashboard capability to better understand disclosure of disability and access needs
• Undertaken work to better understand why some students may choose not to disclose disability or access needs, with findings and recommendations shared across university governance and support teams to enable future improvements
• Deepening disability awareness and understanding of intersectionality through regular kōrero between student support services, including those supporting Māori, Pacific, Rainbow, refugee background and migrant students – with findings shared with teams to guide improvements
• Reviewed the language used in Academic Accommodation Plans to make reasonable accommodations easier to understand

Improve accessibility in learning and teaching

We're making learning environments more flexible and accessible, so that all students can engage with their studies in a way that works for them:

• Progressing a university-wide Automatic Recording of Lectures framework for undergraduate teaching
• Undertaken accessibility reviews across the AUT website, library systems and My AUT app, with improvement work already underway
• Promoting a technology-first approach to support, with assistive technology as the primary means of access and participation, alongside people-based support where needed

Support our students

We have improved how students connect with support services and how support needs are identified earlier, so help is available when and where it's needed:

• Automated internal workflows to improve referrals to Disability Support Services
• Improved access to disability-related information for authorised staff supporting learners
• Delivered communication campaigns to increase awareness of available supports
• We are making Fitness-to-Practice information clearer to improve consistency and accuracy for students in professional programmes
• Improved how Academic Accommodation Plans are shared with relevant staff, including automated notifications whenever a plan is created, updated or made inactive, and strengthening referral pathways to specialist services
• Established a formal referral process between the Future Students team and Disability Support Services, so prospective disabled students can access information and support earlier in their decision-making journey
• Delivering recruitment and marketing materials in accessible formats
• Introducing a low sensory space at key AUT events
• Providing tailored employability support for disabled and neurodiverse students, including one-to-one appointments and workshops