Accessibility and accessibility at school
Physical accessibility
Physical accessibility is achieved when the building and its surroundings are functional, safe and healthy. The college strives to ensure that students have easy access to the premises and that the classrooms are good for studying. Students who need accessibility are taken into account in the classification of courses and, if necessary, the course is moved to a classroom with accessible access.
The college is located at Runeberginkatu 22–24 in Etu-Töölö, in a building that was originally built as a girls' high school in 1923. The old building has been completely renovated for the Helsinki Adult Education Institute, but it is not fully accessible. There are many stairs in the building and, for example, the old doors at the main entrance are difficult to open. The weight limit of the office wheelchair lift is only 225 kg – the wheelchair lift cannot handle most modern wheelchairs. Therefore, office matters, such as course registration and payment, can also be handled at the information desk in the lobby, which is located immediately to the right when entering through the main doors. The information desks in the office and lobby have a fixed induction loop.
Some of the school's physical education, dance and wellbeing courses are held on Annankatu. Annankatu is not completely accessible – there are stairs leading to the premises on Annankatu and there is no elevator. In addition, the changing rooms are on different floors than the halls.
The school's premises on Runeberginkatu have been renovated to be safe and the school has safety measures defined according to the use of the premises. Almost all classes have two exits and there are emergency exit maps near the doors. The building has several fire buttons and exit guidance and lighting. The building has two defibrillators.
The renovation of Runeberginkatu included extensive renovation work on the mezzanine and building services, among other things, to ensure indoor air quality. We are monitoring the college's air quality and trends in water and electricity consumption. Efforts have been made to add signage to the college building in places that have been perceived as unclear.
Social accessibility
Social accessibility means an open and safe atmosphere in the school, where bullying and discrimination are taken seriously. The realization of social accessibility is about attitudes.
Helsinki Adult Education Centre has declared itself a discrimination-free area. The school's operating principles and values essentially include equality and non-discrimination. This means that everyone is treated equally at the school, regardless of age, gender, nationality, ethnic or political background, language, worldview, religion, health status or sexual orientation.
Pluralism is also one of our values, i.e. observing, experiencing and analyzing different views on life, ways of acting and realities, and understanding diversity.
Mental accessibility
Mental accessibility affects mental well-being. Mental accessibility is reflected in how people relate to each other, how they speak and behave. Mental accessibility includes how shared practices encourage each person individually.
The values of the college include customer orientation, which is taking into account the needs of customers and being learner-centered, and collaboration, which is respecting people and working together.
Pedagogical accessibility
Pedagogical accessibility means openness in learning and taking into account the diversity of students in teaching. Recognition of previous studies, general elective nature of studies, individual choice of the most diverse teaching methods and alternative ways of completing studies also support pedagogical accessibility.
Cognitive accessibility
A cognitively accessible web service is familiar and safe. The menu structure is simple, the search is comprehensive, and the buttons and icons are familiar and clearly distinguishable. In an accessible site, the text is spacious, the font is readable, and subheadings and lists are used. The content is as clear as possible in plain language.
In the content design of the online service, we focused on prominently displaying courses, instructions, and customer service contact information.
In the Hakuna navigation, we clearly separated the search for courses and the search for website information content.
We chose the simplest and most readable font and a harmonious color scheme, where the text stands out well from the background. In content production, we strive to use clear, common language. We avoid, for example, sayings and metaphors.
Information accessibility
The website of the Helsinki Adult Education Centre is technically AA-level and thus serves the majority of users. An AA-level website takes into account, among other things, the readability and contrast of the text size.
However, the content of the Helsinki Adult Education Centre's online service has accessibility shortcomings, for example, not all PDF files are accessible.
Did you notice any shortcomings?
If you notice any problems with the website or if you feel that your course is not accessible as described here, please contact the school office. toimisto@helao.fi or you can leave your comments using the form below. We will do our best to rectify the situation.