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Disability and Access

Disability and Access

Making UT Austin Accessible and Welcoming for Students with Disabilities

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    • About Disabilities
      • Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
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    • Outreach Presentations
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Student Volunteer Notetakers

Become a Volunteer Note Taker for a Student with a Disability

Earn service hours and contribute to campus accessibilityb by sharing your class notes with a student with a disability. Receive support to strengthen your note taking and demonstrate career readiness skills for your future employment. 

Being a volunteer notetaker requires consistent class attendance and a willingness to share your notes after every class if there is a student in your class who receives peer notes as an academic accommodation. If your services are needed, you will be eligible for service hours for the time you spend taking notes. D&A will provide verification of service hours at the end of the semester.

Support and Professional Development for Note Takers:

  • Sign up for a Learning Specialist appointment at Sanger Learning Center to strengthen your note taking skills. Select the appointment topic of ‘study effectiveness’ and indicate in the comments that you would like to work on notetaking in particular. 
  • Notetaking is a great way to build career ready skills in: Communication, Critical Thinking, Professionalism, and more! Build your resume while ensuring accessibility on campus; meet with a Texas Career Engagement Career Education Specialist to learn more.
  • Receive monthly note taking resources and tips from Disability and Access.

Interested? Here are your next steps!

  1. Sign in to the D&A Student Portal with your UT EID and password.
  2. Build your profile with the required information.
  3. Choose the classes you are available to provide notes for (You must be registered for the course. You can add a course after Add/Drop if necessary).
  4. You will be asked to upload a sample of notes. You can also accomplish this step after the first class day with your lecture notes.

When you are selected as a note-taker, you will get an email notifying you. You should then upload notes as soon as you can after each lecture. While typed notes in Word documents are preferred, you can also take pictures of handwritten notes and upload the notes as photos. However, your writing must be legible and the pages must be numbered. We prefer if you compile the pages of notes for each lecture into one document. This could be done by adding the images into a single Word document. Note: Peer notes do not extend to textbook readings or external sources. The notes uploaded should only cover lectures and any discussion sections.

Within the D&A Portal, your identity will be hidden from students- they only will see your notes, not your name. Important: Your note documents may contain your name by default. Follow this help page to remove information from your shared documents:

Help protect your privacy – Microsoft Support

If you are unable to serve as a notetaker for the remainder of the semester, you are asked to log in to the D&A Portal and remove your availability immediately so another notetaker can be assigned.

Taking notes in class provides access for students with a variety of disabilities including:

  • ADHD
  • Learning Disabilities
  • Visual Disabilities
  • Deaf/ Hard of Hearing
  • Psychological Disabilities
  • Traumatic Brain Injury
  • Autism
  • Medical Disabilities

Want to learn more about the various disabilities of students who are registered with Disability and Access? Visit our About Disabilities Page.

Thanks for helping to make UT an accessible and welcoming environment for students with disabilities!

 

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Contact Us

Call: 512-471-6259
Email: access@austin.utexas.edu
Schedule: Drop In/Office Hours

Typical response time is 1-3 business days between the hours of 8 am to 5 pm. Business days do not include weekends or holidays when the university is closed.

Visit our Contact Us page for more info.

NOTE: D&A has recently undergone a website update that may have impacted links on our website. Please email us regarding broken links so we can update them and provide you with the appropriate link.

D&A Online

D&A Student Portal

D&A Instructor Portal

Volunteer Notetaker Sign Up

Course Load Reduction / Medical Withdrawal

For more information please visit the CLR/MW page

Report a Campus Accessibility Barrier

Click here to report an accessibility barrier on campus.

Disability-Related Opportunities

Looking for scholarships, internships, research opportunities specifically for students with disabilities? Check out our list here!

Request A Presentation

Please visit our outreach presentation page and click the link at the bottom to fill out the form.

Connect with the Disability Cultural Center

The DCC supports disability community and education at UT. Learn more about the DCC.

 

 

Hornslink

Support D&A

Interested in learning more about supporting Disability and Access?

Make a donation or contact:
Heather Miller, Director of Development for Student Affairs, heather.miller@austin.utexas.edu

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Emergency Information | Site Policies | Web Accessibility Policy | Web Privacy Policy

  • About
    • Our Services
    • Policies and Procedures
      • The Law
      • Confidentiality
      • Grievance Procedures
      • Maintenance of Records
      • Reactivation of Files
      • Student Rights and Responsibilities
    • Frequently Asked Questions
    • Contact Us
    • D&A Data
  • Future UT Students
    • Making the Transition to UT
    • How to Register with D&A
    • Documentation Guidelines
    • Accommodations and Services
    • Housing and Dining Accommodations
    • Placement Exams
    • Resources for Parents
  • Current UT Students
    • How to Register with D&A
    • Accommodations and Services
    • Using Accommodations at UT
    • Using Testing Accommodations
    • Assistive Technology
    • Course Load Reduction and Medical Withdrawal
    • Online Learning
    • Housing and Dining Accommodations
    • Student Volunteer Notetakers
  • Faculty/Staff
    • The Law
    • Rights and Responsibilities of Students and Faculty
    • The Basics: Providing Accommodations
    • Working with Students with Disabilities
    • Creating an Accessible Classroom
    • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Deaf/HH
    • Live Captioning Services
    • Sign Language Interpreter Services
    • Captioning Videos
  • Forms & Documents
  • Education and Resources
    • About Disabilities
      • Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
      • Autism
      • Visual Disabilities
      • Brain Injuries
      • Hearing Disabilities
      • Learning Disabilities (LD)
      • Medical Disabilities
      • Physical Disabilities
      • Psychological Disabilities
      • Temporary Disabilities
    • Outreach Presentations
    • Resource Library
    • Accessibility Champion Awards
    • Scholarships