The legal duty to make reasonable adjustments means education providers must take positive and proactive steps to make sure disabled students can take part fully in education and access all the benefits, facilities and services offered to students.
In line with King’s Education Strategy, we’re committed to creating an inclusive, accessible learning environment and culture that values and encourages diversity.
This article outlines how we ensure all students have equitable access to their studies.
If you have any questions about this article or its content, please contact Lucy.Ward@kcl.ac.uk in the first instance.
Personal tutors and office hours
All students are assigned a personal tutor (or supervisor if you're a PGR student). You can talk to them about your academic progress or ask for help accessing further support at King’s.
Module Leads will hold regular office hours during term time and can also be contacted for appointments outside these hours.
If the default room for an office hour meeting isn’t accessible for you, fully accessible rooms are available. Please contact the relevant staff member to arrange an alternative meeting place.
Module descriptions and reading lists
You’ll be able to access module descriptions, learning objectives, sample lecture content, assessment information and core reading lists two to four weeks before the semester begins, and before you choose your modules. This information is available on KEATS.
Full reading lists will also be available via Leganto before your programme starts. These will highlight priority readings as core, recommended or additional.
You can request Digitised Course Readings (PDF versions of core materials like book chapters or journal articles) via the Leganto system, where available. If not, please use the Accessible Formats Service.
If pre-reading is needed, it’ll be clearly communicated at least 48 hours before a lecture or seminar via KEATS.
If you need alternative formats, this will be flagged to Library Services through your King’s Inclusion Plan (KIP), which is created with the Disability Support Team.
Handouts and slides
Where handouts or slides are used in teaching, they’ll be uploaded to KEATS, ideally in advance. Accessible electronic versions will be provided where appropriate.
Important to know: Module leads and teachers aren’t expected to create handouts or slides if they aren’t normally used. If no slides or handouts are used for teaching reasons, this will be clearly explained in the module area on KEATS.
Videos, audio and other multimedia contents: captions and transcripts
King’s aims to follow best practice in digital accessibility. This means that, where possible:
- all pre-recorded audio and video content will have captions and transcripts
- live audio content will include captions
- pre-recorded video may also include audio description. If you think you’d benefit from this support, speak to the module lead.
Lecture capture
Where possible, lectures will be recorded using lecture capture,in line with King's Digital Education Policy.
Some staff may opt out of using lecture capture – this requires approval from the Vice-Dean Education. If this happens, your module leader will explain the reason clearly in the KEATS module area.
Disabled students are entitled to record lectures in line with King’s policies. Where lecturers have opted-out, any recordings should be for personal use only and must not be shared or distributed. Misuse is covered under student conduct regulations.
Important to know: Tutorials and practical sessions aren’t recorded due to the challenge of gaining consent from all participants. You’re not allowed to record these sessions using personal devices or lecture capture.
Class participation, presentations and group work
We understand that some students can find barriers to participation in class, group work and presentations. While participation is expected and encouraged, it's recommended that you raise any concerns that you may have with the Module lead.
If group work is required and you're anxious about participating, speak privately with the module lead or your personal tutor. Where appropriate, they can raise awareness within your group about challenges like hearing impairments, autism, social anxiety or stammering.
If you need to leave a room for any reason, you won’t be challenged about this.
If you have a disability, you can discuss how any challenges might be addressed with a Disability Advisor.
Microphones
Where available, staff will always use microphones, regardless of whether they believe it’s needed. This only applies to rooms with installed audio equipment.
If you use a radio microphone (e.g. if you’re deaf), please remember it’s your responsibility to let the module lead or teacher know and explain how to use it.
Attendance and engagement
As a student at King’s, you are expected to be an active, responsive and accountable partner in your education, and as such it is your responsibility to keep up with your studies and catch up on any missed teaching.
We do recognise that you may experience difficulties that impact your academic engagement, and you should let your Personal Tutor, or Student Support and Wellbeing Services know if this is the case.
Further information about expectations for attendance and engagement, and support available can be found here.
Important to know: Office hours aren’t for private tuition, but your lecturer may direct you to useful resources.
Assessment
You’ll normally receive feedback on assessments via KEATS within four weeks of the submission deadline.
If you have a diagnosed Specific Learning Difference (SpLD) such as dyslexia, dyspraxia, a neurodiverse disability such as ADHD, autism, a long term medical or mental health condition or other disability that may affect your ability to engage in written assessments, you can apply for Personalised Assessment Arrangements (PAA).
For centrally timetabled exams, the Exams Team will arrange your adjustments. For assessments arranged by your department, they’ll be informed of your approved PAA and put similar arrangements in place.
If you have legitimate concerns about assessment types like oral presentations, your department will explore reasonable alternatives such as:
- recording your presentation separately
- presenting to a smaller audience
- offering a preferred time slot.
You may also be referred to the Disability Support & Inclusion team Disability Support Team.
Accessing buildings and teaching rooms
You can check disabled access to King's buildings and teaching rooms using the AccessAble website.
If you have any concerns, please speak to the Faculty Disability Liaison.
If there is a reason you may need assistance to leave the building during an evacuation you will need a Personal Emergency Evacuation Plan (PEEP). Please contact the Disability Support Team to arrange this.
If you need further support
Disability Support at King’s is a team of specialist advisers who provide information, advice and guidance to both current and prospective students. They support students with long-term medical or mental health conditions, specific learning difficulties (SpLDs) and other impairments that affect learning.
You can find more information in the below articles:
What disability support is available for me at King's?
What provisions can be made for my disability?