Statement from UCL's disability equality champion

Creating a welcoming and inclusive environment for all is at the heart of UCL’s culture and it’s one of the reasons I feel so passionate about working here.

Everyone at UCL should have an equal opportunity to participate and contribute, and we should be supporting everyone to achieve their ambitions. Accessibility is about removing any physical and environmental barriers – from building access to the digital environment, enabling workplace adjustments and networking opportunities to making sure the polices and support available are understood and embedded into life at UCL.

As an organisation we have always had a strong belief in the importance of inclusion, but we can always be better at delivering this and we will keep working hard to improve – we recognise we have many historic and listed buildings and also legacy IT systems which were not designed with accessibility in mind. We are working to tackle the challenges posed by these challenges and will embed accessibility as a fundamental principle into all aspects of our future planning and development.

Fiona Ryland, Disability Equality Champion and UCL Chief Operating Officer