Specific information and services

Support persons can assist students with disabilities or chronic illnesses during their day-to-day life at the University by, for example, getting a book from the top row of shelves, reading texts aloud, preparing course notes or helping with literature research in the library.

Information on various types of assistance services is available here.

Although planning to study or do an internship abroad with a health impairment may appear unrealistic at first glance and present a major challenge, it is also possible with appropriate support. In addition to the question of which host universities and facilities are suitable, one also has to determine whether appropriate accommodations, on-site assistance and funding options are available. You might also have to modify your health insurance to avoid additional costs due to impairments that you cannot fully bear yourself.

Stays abroad information sheet (PDF)

Points of contact:

• Study Abroad Advisory Service in the International Office
• Deutsches Studentenwerk
• German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)

More links and information:

• Erasmus+ (studying abroad and traineeships)
• Dedicated funding
• International BAföG
  
• Erasmus Student Network Bonn e. V.
• DAAD checklist for study placements abroad
• “studieren weltweit” (“study worldwide”) campaign
• US: National Clearinghouse on Disability and Exchange (NCDE/MIUSA)

The Deutscher Verein der Blinden und Sehbehinderten in Studium und Beruf e. V. (DVBS) provides a variety of services to promote continual professional development and lifelong learning for blind and visually impaired working people.

Contact:
Deutscher Verein der Blinden und Sehbehinderten in Studium und Beruf e. V. (DVBS)
Frauenbergstraße 8, 35039 Marburg
Phone: +49 6421 94888-0
info@dvbs-online.de
https://www.dvbs-online.de

The USL Usage Regulations of December 16, 2022 take the interests of people with disabilities into account. § 5 of the regulations states:

“The USL is committed to equal participation for all members of society. It provides appropriate accessibility accommodations for users with disabilities and takes their special needs into account. The Representative for Students with Disabilities or Chronic Illnesses or Office of Disability Resources will be involved if necessary.”

Analogous provisions were also included in § 6 of the Framework Usage Regulations for the Institute and Department Libraries of the Academic Institutions of the University of Bonn dated December 16, 2022.

An overview of the libraries for the individual faculties is available here.

The USL offers assistance to help you make the best use of its extensive holdings and the ways to find sources of research information for your work.

Library use information sheet

Modern means of communication have brought great changes to learning for people with and without disabilities. The eCampus electronic teaching and learning platform at the University of Bonn benefits all students, especially those with disabilities.

Many lecturers upload lecture notes or supplementary material for their exercises and seminars to eCampus to make them available to the participants in their courses.

eCampus also includes many features that assist with course organization and facilitate communication within a course. The benefits for people with limited mobility or hearing and other sensory impairments are clear.

More information on how to register and other details is available here.

Accessibility accommodations are also possible for eExams. The accessibility accommodation is usually provided by extending the time available for writing the examination, but writing in a separate room is also possible. It is important that the examiners be given sufficient advance notice of the accessibility accommodation.

University IT can design workplaces that meet the requirements of students with disabilities and can modify them to satisfy your specific needs. Please contact us or the Representative for Students with Disabilities or Chronic Illnesses as soon as possible so that we can make the necessary arrangements.

A workplace is already available for students with visual impairments to write eExams. The ZoomText Magnifier/Reader is available for use on this special computer. It offers screen magnification levels ranging from 1 to 60x. The display scheme for viewing screen contents can be set as desired.

Contact: eklausur@uni-bonn.de

Studying is a period of life when the income you are able to earn is far too small to cover your living and study expenses. The question, therefore, is how to reduce the financial burden for your family or, if you are self-supporting, how to finance your studies yourself. General information on “costs and financing” is available from the Central Study Advisory and Counseling Service (zsb@uni-bonn.de).

You generally have the following options:

1. BAföG (Federal Training Assistance Act) funding
2. Funding from foundations
3. Education loans
4. Other funding options
5. Researchers with Disabilities and Chronic Illnesses

More information is available in this financing information sheet.

Inclusion means that everyone—regardless of origin, religion, the language they speak or whether they have an impairment—naturally belongs and can participate. This also applies, of course, to University Sports.

• Inclusive sports (“SpInk” project)
• Inclusive break express
  This 10-15 minute activity break is designed to create a positive and supportive environment for all members of our university community, regardless of individual ability or impairment.
• Buddy program:
  to avoid limiting our inclusion programs to sports only, our “buddy program” uses buddies/guides and networking to achieve inclusion and bring people together university-wide, ideally starting at the beginning of your studies.

The Hildegardis Verein assists women in various stages of life and promotes their strengths and careers with projects and mentoring programs (e.g. to increase the number of female leaders in the Church), networking meetings and inclusion projects with female students and academics with disabilities.

Contact:

Hildegardis-Verein e. V.
Geschäftsstelle
Wittelsbacherring 9
D-53115 Bonn
Phone: +49 228 9659249
Fax: +49 228 9695226
post@hildegardis-verein.de

An anonymous support and information line run by students for students (including University of Bonn students)

Phone no.: +49 800 4703500 or +49 221 4703500

Infrastructure and Facility Services (Section 4.1) is responsible for ALL matters related to parking. Please send any questions concerning parking fees/administration to this email address only: prb@verwaltung.uni-bonn.de.

More information is available here.

In accordance with § 2, para. 5 of the General Terms of Use, parking users in possession of severe disability ID cards for class aG, G, GI or BI, or who are eligible for an official blue or orange parking ID can apply for a specially designated parking space near their place of work.

Internships:

• Study and internships abroad
• European Parliament
• Deutsche Post and DHL

Initiatives:

• Bundesverband Legasthenie & Dyskalkulie e. V. (Federal Dyslexia and Dyscalculia Association)—Junge Aktive (Active Youth)
• German Commission for UNESCO—inclusive education
• Dunital e. V.
• Funding program—learning life skills even with Crohn’s disease
• “Accessible Communication” competence and reference center
• Stiftung Lebensspur e. V.

University graduates who want to pursue a career in academia need a doctorate. A doctorate is especially the standard for the natural science degree programs and medicine, and is also the norm for employment outside the academic world. A doctorate generally takes three to five years to complete, but this can be extended for students with disabilities or chronic illnesses.

The doctoral degree regulations for the individual faculties specify the requirements for admission and the requirements and procedure for acquiring a doctorate. With respect to the funding for your doctorate, in addition to general expenses you could also incur additional costs due to your disability (e.g. for aids, personal assistance, support persons).

More information:

• “Gemeinsam die Promotion gestalten” (“Shaping a Doctorate Together”) manual
  (published by: QualitätsZirkel Promotion (QZP)) with guidelines for doctoral candidates and supervisors (in English and German)
• Submitting funding proposals to the German Research Foundation (DFG): researchers with disabilities and chronic illnesses

Quiet room for students with disabilities or chronic illnesses
AVZ I, Endenicher Allee 11–13, 2nd Floor, Room 2.004

In addition to a central study and examination room (with two computer workstations, one equipped for visually impaired students), the Disability Representative can also provide students with disabilities or chronic illnesses in all faculties access to:

• A quiet room with a resting couch
• A study workplace (with manual height-adjustable desk)

They were provided by the University of Bonn as a further contribution to ensuring that students with health impairments have an equal opportunity to participate.

Please send requests for use by email to studierenmithandicap@uni-bonn.de.

Quiet room information sheet (PDF)

Visually impaired workstation for students with disabilities
AVZ I, Endenicher Allee 11–13, 2nd Floor, Room 2.003

The computer workstation includes the following:

• Computer with two swivel monitors, a keyboard (black with large, milled white lettering, incl. markings for the blind) and pre-installed ZoomText Magnifier/Reader software (PC large-screen program in German providing 1.25–60x magnification, including a text-to-speech program)
• Braille display with 40 braille elements/cursor routing keys, 6 function keys, 4 navigation keys and 10 braille input keys along with the NVDA control program
• “topolino flex” high-resolution camera system (color camera with white board and template functions, adjustable autofocus, true and false color display—contrast-enhancing and with negative display, PC or notebook connection via USB 2.0, large working area due to articulated swivel arm, remote control)
• Bearing-mounted cross table (freely movable in the X and Y directions, can be locked horizontally and/or vertically for writing)
• Scanner with “Omni Page 19/Ultimate” software (OCR text recognition and conversion program)

Please send requests for use by email to studierenmithandicap@uni-bonn.de.

Visually impaired workstation information sheet (PDF)

Vacancies:

• International and Specialized Services (ZAV) employer service for severely disabled academics
• Siemens “Jobs without Barriers”
• Career at RWE
• Jobs for autistic people
• Projekt iXNet – inklusives Expert*innen-Netzwerk (iXNet inclusive expert network project)
  iXNet provides network knowledge, information events and a counseling team to empower and support academics in their career planning.

Erfolgreich bewerben! (Apply successfully!)

Guidelines for job seekers with impairments from the International and Specialized Services (ZAV) employer service for severely disabled academics. The brochure aims to help severely disabled applicants prepare a personal application strategy. It provides a great deal of useful information on self-analysis, job market analysis, application documents, job interviews and funding opportunities.

Provided by the Deutsches Katholisches Blindenwerk (DKBW).

DKBW is a non-profit organization based in Bonn that works worldwide for blind, visually impaired and deaf-blind people, mainly in the educational sector. In addition to numerous projects, the braille publishing company and talking book library offer religious texts and theological literature, among other things, for blind and visually impaired people. This could be especially attractive for students of Protestant and Catholic theology who are visually impaired themselves. The texts are available as audio CDs or in braille. Items can be borrowed free of charge and are sent by mail.

Contact:
Deutsches Katholisches Blindenwerk e. V.
Graurheindorfer Straße 151a
53117 Bonn
Phone: +49 228 55949-10

Email: info@dkbw.de
https://blindenwerk.de