Accessibility

Our goal is to help all UT students grow as writers. After listening to suggestions from many students, we have revised our policies and procedures to make it easier for students with disabilities to get the help they need.

Accommodation Letters

If you require an accommodation, which is most commonly extended time, make your appointment online at least 24 hours in advance, and contact our desk through Chat or at 512-471-6222 to discuss options. We accept letters from D&A or evidence of your 504 or IEP accommodations from high school. You may upload your letter at the bottom of this page.

Online Consultations

The UWC now offers both online and in person consultations for undergraduate students and graduate students.

Reduced Distraction Rooms

We offer a limited number of reduced distraction rooms in our PCL 2.330 location. If you would like to use one, please let our front desk know when you arrive. We will do our best to accommodate your request. If at any point in the semester COVID-19 guidelines suggest we should close the reduced distraction rooms, we will offer alternative quiet spaces for consultations.

Accessible Software

You are welcome to bring a laptop with your preferred software (such as Kurzweil 3000, which the SSD office offers as an accommodation). However, the computers at our PCL 2.330 location offer the full suite of OS X Accessibility tools, including:

• A screen reader
• Screen captions and descriptions
• Voice dictation
• Keyboard speed controls
• Sound cues through screen flashes
• OS X’s voice recognition technology

If you require additional customized services, please bring a note from your instructor that explains what kind of assistance they are comfortable with having us provide. If you have questions about how the UWC may support you, email us at uwcfrontdesk@utexas.edu.

Description of the UWC

To come into the UWC you will first enter the PCL at the celebrated/main entrance surrounded by bricks. As you walk in, you will go through a communal hall which can be a little loud and moderately crowded. To get to the UWC, you then turn left directly after the elevators, and then left again at the end of this corridor. There are a few Learning Labs on the way, which usually hold events that can be a little noisy and involve some clapping sometimes.

As you get to the end of the hall, you can then enter the UWC where:

• First you will find our front desk, where you can check in for your consultation. This area is where everyone waits to be called into their consultations, so we have a few couches around and usually a few people waiting, but it’s mostly quieter;
• Check-in with the front desk and then you just have to wait to be called. If you would like to wait somewhere else, just let our front desk staff know about it;
• Once you’ve been called in by your consultant, you can go either right or left, but they both will lead you into the UWC space:
  •  If you go left, you will get into our main hall, where we have many small round tables where consultations happen;
  • Taking a right from the front desk, you will be in between our main hall and what we call the “tail”, where tables are larger and sometimes shared. There, during some parts of the day it will be quieter, but if it’s not, that’s where you can find our quiet rooms. If you would like to have your consultation in one of those, just let our staff know when you check in. Those are not only quieter but have less visual stimuli as well;
• Across from our front entrance, y’all can find private restrooms as well, which are much quieter than the public ones;
• The UWC and the PCL use bright overhead white lights and tend to be quite lit and bright. The UWC is also surrounded by windows;
• Our space is not too busy visually, but we do have art and posters on the walls. The walls are white and blue and our chairs are a mix of black, red and gray;

The PCL is always quite busy, and may be even busier in the late afternoons. Our space is usually more crowded in the mornings and early afternoons, and it quiets down usually after 3pm.