Image: From left to right Sophie Florance, Jules Kryger and Georgia Eades

Winners of the Together We Rise Staff Award, UNE’s Study Access and Wellbeing Office (SAWO) team are reshaping how we approach accessibility. Their work goes beyond compliance, focusing instead on inclusion as a mindset that benefits every student and staff member. In this Q&A, the team explains what drives them, how they tackle equity gaps, and why making small, thoughtful changes can transform the UNE experience for all.

• Who is the SAWO team and what do you do?

The SAWO team is made up of a dedicated group of passionate staff who are inspired each day by the opportunity to provide meaningful support to our students. We feel a deep sense of gratitude for the work we do and are privileged that so many students place their trust in us by sharing their personal experiences and allowing us to work collaboratively to develop tailored Study Access Plans (SAPs) that support their equitable participation in tertiary education.

Our office provides support to a wide range of students, including those with disabilities and/or health conditions, carers, students on humanitarian visas, Elite Athletes, students in correctional centres, and members of the Australian Defence Force (including Reserves), Emergency Services (e.g., ambulance, fire, police, customs), and the fly-in, fly-out industry.

It is a dynamic area of the university, and we are proud that UNE can offer accessible pathways that enable so many of our students to thrive in their studies.

• Can you describe some of the equity gaps on campus? 

There are areas of opportunity, both on our physical campus and in the online environment. UNE is a large campus, spread across a hill, which can make navigation challenging at times, particularly for students and staff with mobility needs. Similarly, in the digital space, wayfinding isn’t always intuitive. For example, maps and signage could be clearer, and at times information can be inconsistent. A small but important example is signage around accessible facilities or parking, which doesn’t always match the actual access available.

Another equity gap relates to how information is delivered to students. While we do our best to provide resources in accessible formats, some materials are still quite text-heavy or presented in ways that don’t suit diverse learning needs. This can make it harder for students with different processing styles, or those using assistive technology, to fully engage. It’s an area where small changes, like offering multiple formats, using clearer language, or embedding accessibility into design from the outset, could make a big difference.

• What are some of the proactive steps you and your team took to address these equity gaps on campus?

Equity requires a university-wide approach rather than relying on a single team, and it’s best understood as a mindset that benefits everyone – not only those with specific learning needs or disabilities. Our team works collaboratively across the university and with the broader community to build awareness and embed accessibility practices.

For example, we recently partnered with the Marketing team to create an accessibility plan and checklist ahead of an on-campus event. This allowed us to audit the venue and make simple but important improvements, such as ensuring clear signage to both accessible and standard bathrooms, and confirming suitable parking was available.

We also engaged proactively with Armidale Regional Council (ARC) in the lead-up to the Big Chill event, initiating discussions around accessibility and participating in a venue walk-through to identify potential barriers. This collaborative approach ensured that accessibility considerations were embedded from the outset, increasing the likelihood of a positive experience for all attendees.

Our team continues to proactively engage with addressing equity gaps across UNE, with many more collaborative discussions underway with various areas to place accessibility at the forefront of what we’re trying to achieve.

• Why is going beyond compliance important when thinking about inclusion? 

Inclusion isn’t just about meeting minimum legal and policy requirements, it’s about striving to create an environment where everyone feels valued, supported and able to fully engage. When we design with accessibility and inclusion in mind, we make the university more accessible for everyone. For example, an automatic door not only helps someone using a wheelchair but also makes it easier for the person carrying a box of brochures and a coffee to pass through safely. 

True inclusion involves understanding lived experience, addressing subtle barriers and embedding equitable practices across every aspect of what we, as an institution, are trying to achieve – from policies and processes to the design of physical and digital spaces.

• What do you hope staff take away from this story/your work when planning future events? 

Making events accessible benefits everyone. For example, adding captions to a speech at an Awards night doesn’t just benefit the person who has hearing loss- it benefits the person standing beside them who can’t hear over the conversations beside them, or the people sitting next to the speaker when it cuts out for 20 seconds, or the people for whom English might not be a first language. The key is to ask people what makes events more enjoyable and accessible for them and then ask for feedback on how you did. After all, we can’t address and improve what we don’t know!

• Anything else you would like staff to know? 

Accessibility and inclusion are a journey, and we’re all at different stages – and that’s absolutely OK. What matters is that we each take the opportunity to make UNE a better place for everyone but making small, thoughtful adjustments in our day-to-day. The best solutions come from listening to one another and our students, and by staying curious and open to feedback, we can create an environment where everyone can fully participate and thrive.