“EPFL Without Barriers”: accessible and inclusive

EPFL attaches particular importance to the diversity of its community, which contributes to its intellectual, scientific and cultural wealth. However, day-to-day life at EPFL still involves obstacles and challenges that are out of place, and which particularly affect people with neurodiversity, chronic illnesses or sensory, physical or other impairments.

The “EPFL Without Barriers” project aims to assess existing social and environmental barriers, and to develop and improve the School’s ability to welcome its entire community under the best possible conditions. The project is equally aimed at students, academic staff as well as administrative and technical staff.

Objectives

Organized around seven thematic areas, the project aims to reach the following objectives by the end of 2023:

• Establish the current state of inclusion at EPFL
• Verify EPFL’s compliance with current legal requirements, norms and standards
• Identify unmet needs and areas for improvement
• Formulate recommendations and make proposals to the upper management in terms of actions and institutional approach
• Communicate final results

The aim is to formulate an institutional strategy with an action plan which will then be implemented in concrete actions. The project also aims to improve understanding of the diversity of personal conditions, and to create links between the people concerned and their peers within the various bodies (student, intermediate, teaching, administrative and technical) and the School’s associations.

Contributions form

In order to first identify, and then reduce – or, if possible, eliminate – any remaining social and environmental barriers at EPFL, an essential first step is hearing directly from those of you affected by such barriers. A call for contributions has been designed to give people in the EPFL community who meet barriers, as well as their friends, colleagues and family members, the opportunity to share anonymously both their positive and negative experiences and their ideas to improve things. This short questionnaire was open from May until end of August 2023. Communication on the results will follow in the coming months after analysis.

Organization

The Steering Committee is responsible for strategic decision-making on the project.

The project team, with its seven thematic working groups, is responsible for establishing the current state of inclusion in relevant areas of the school.

The active involvement of members of the EPFL community is a fundamental principle of the project. This is ensured by the “Perspective of concerned people” working group.

Resources and legal basis

Teaching and Research

News and activities

EPFL without barriers during the Health Days

Health Days will be held from October 9 to 13 at EPFL. They are organized by the Mental Health and Wellbeing Task Force, the Centre Sport et Santé UNIL-EPFL and the University of Lausanne.

See the program of events related to the EPFL without barriers project

Workshop on Document Accessibility

This 90-minute workshop on October 10, 2023 led by Prof. Alireza Darvishy will empower lecturers, researchers, library and repository managers.

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“I’ve become expert in camouflaging myself”

Nathalie Bui, a first-year Master’s student in EPFL’s chemistry program, has Asperger’s syndrome – a mild form of autism. She’ll take part in a panel discussion on 9 October as part of the 2023 Health Days.

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“My goal is to use my experience to help others”

PhD student Cristiano Trevisin has been hearing-impaired since childhood. He’s working to make EPFL more accessible for people facing various barriers.

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EPFL students develop two apps to help the visually impaired

As part of the Assistive Technologies Challenge, EPFL students developed two apps to help people with low or no vision.

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Call for projects in the field of disability

In the framework of the Innovation Booster Technology & Special Needs, the FRH awards cheques for innovation projects addressing equality at work, autonomous living or digital accessibility.

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Past activities

“Semaine de l’accessibilité 2023” (FR)

From May 22 to 24, 2023, the Foundation for Research in Favor of the Disabled organized the Accessibility Week 2023 at the Gotham Gare co-working space in Lausanne.

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“Sensibilisation aux situations de handicap” (FR)

April 5, 2023, 1pm to 5:15pm. Experiencing disability situations in order to understand them was the approach and objective of this immersive workshop accompanied by experts. It addressed reduced mobility, aging, dyslexia, neurodivergences, as well as visual and auditory disabilities.

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“Les barrières dans les hautes écoles suisses” (FR)

March 23, 2023, 10:30am to 1pm. This workshop gave participants an insight into the day-to-day life of people facing barriers in the university environment, and suggested ways of promoting inclusion, participation and autonomy.

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Everyday Barriers. Vidéo from the Swiss Center for Disability Research