Making Office Hours Accessible

Content: Show awareness, Organising office hours, Points of contact.

Students come to your office hours with a wide range of concerns. As well as needing clarification regarding examinations and academic performance, individual issues may also be a factor. The following tips will help you make your counselling services more accessible and provide information on where to turn if you have questions about mental illnesses, disadvantage compensation, or needs arising from impairment or illness.

Show awareness of barriers

An important first step towards greater accessibility in your day-to-day teaching can be to let students know that you are open to accommodating needs arising from impairment or illness. For example, at the start of each semester, when discussing examinations, point out that students with disabilities can apply for disadvantage compensation.

Please ensure that you do not refer to ‘advantages’ in the context of disadvantage compensation for students with disabilities, as these are not, in fact, advantages. Disadvantage compensation for students with disabilities are legally established to ensure a fair and comparable study and examination environment for students with disabilities.

As a member of teaching staff at Bielefeld University, you have access to an accessible set of slides (PowerPoint) detailing the accessibility services (ZAB), which you are welcome to integrate into both your courses and digital learning environments.

By taking these initial points into account, you are not only displaying openness towards issues such as disability; you acknowledge individual needs and thus helping to ensure that such matters are dealt with as a matter of course.

Organising office hours

In advance of your office hours, you should consider whether your counselling services are accessible. Please feel free to use the following suggestions and recommendations:

Offer counselling meetings online as well (e.g., via Zoom) or by phone. This allows students to decide for themselves which option they wish to take up.
Please check whether your consultation room is accessible to wheelchair users. There is a minimum space of 2 × 2 metres available in the room.
Ask whether the lighting conditions in the room are comfortable.
Avoid using strong fragrances.

It can be particularly useful to ask students about their needs before office hours. To find out what these are, you could use the following examples of phrasing, amongst others:

Are there any illness- or impairment-related needs that should be considered to enable an consultation meeting?

I will be happy to make arrangements to improve accessibility for you, within the limits of my ability. Please let me know your requirements as soon as possible.

Gesprächsführung

When speaking with students, you should consider how you talk about impairment, chronic or mental illnesses, as ‘language sensitivity’ is particularly important in this context. With the ZAB Language Compass, the ZAB offers you a tool to check texts and text modules for ableist language and, where necessary, to find alternatives. You can also take a look at the glossary, where many terms relating to accessibility are explained in a concise manner.

Points of contact

Issues such as mental illnesses or the search for support services may also come up during your office hours and raise questions to which you do not have the answers. No one expects you to have comprehensive knowledge on these matters. What is important is to refer students to the relevant support services as a matter of course in such situations. It is best to put together a short list for your university and town.

Bielefeld University

The following information resources and points of contact have been compiled for teaching staff at Bielefeld University:

If you have any queries relating to issues such as disadvantage compensation, funding for your studies or support options specifically for students with disabilities, chronic or mental illnesses, please refer them to the ZAB. The ZAB offers voluntary, confidential and independent advice.

In addition, a general introductory overview of the topic is available under ‘Disadvantage Compensation’. However, it is recommended that students seek individual advice from the ZAB.

If, during conversations with students, situations or questions arise that primarily concern mental illnesses, you can refer the person seeking advice to the following selected support services:

Low-threshold psychosocial counselling at Bielefeld University: General Student Advisory Service (ZSB).
In acute crisis situations: Bielefeld Social Psychiatric Service (PDF in German).
Round-the-clock counselling and pastoral care services for anyone facing conflict or crisis: Bielefeld-OWL Telephone Counselling Service.
A helpline run by students – for students: Nightline Bielefeld.

If possible, offer follow-up conversations at the end of your office hours. A renewed explicit invitation to share individual needs can be helpful.

Small measures, big impact

It is less important that you have dealt in depth with every aspect of disability. What is far more important is that you demonstrate to students your openness to needs arising from illness or impairment, refer them to the appropriate support services, and create an environment of equal opportunity by sharing information.

Even small changes to the way you structure your teaching and office hours can help break down barriers!