Studying with disabilities
Chalmers aims to be an accessible university, open to everyone. When you enrol, we offer various support initiatives to help you with your studies, regardless of physical impairment or disability.
Nais is a system through which students with a long-term disability can apply for study support during their studies at...
How to apply for study support
- Log into Nais with your Chalmers ID, cid, (if you have one) or the same login you use for universityadmissions.se and follow the instructions.
- After submitting your application, you will receive a confirmation email.
- The study support coordinator will invite you to a meeting.
- The decision and recommended support measures will be confirmed to you in Nais after you meet with us.
- Carefully read your decision in Nais so that you know how you can access the support granted to you.
- Apply for study support in Nais.
You are responsible for reading the information in your Nais certificate. You must apply for study support in sufficient time for it to be available before the start of your course, new study period, and/or upcoming course element. Before the autumn semester, there are always long waiting times. If your application is late, your support may not be in place when the course starts.
Who can get study support?
To apply for study support, you must have been accepted as a student and have documentation proving a long-term disability. This documentation may be a medical certificate or psychologist’s certificate. Speech therapists and special educational needs teachers can issue dyslexia certificates.
If you have a visual, hearing or mobility impairment, you must contact the coordinator as soon as you receive your admission notice.
Students with mental health conditions are also eligible for study support.
If you have a short-term injury or illness, study support/adaptations are not arranged via the study support coordinator. Instead, you should contact the examiner for the course in question.
Types of help you can get
Note-taking support
Note-taking support involves one of your fellow students taking lecture notes and then sharing them as part of the additional support for those who need it.
Read more about how note-taking works and how to become a note-taker.
Mentoring support
Students having difficulties organising their studies can apply for mentoring support. A mentor is a student who encourages and assists another student with planning and structuring the studies. In order to get mentoring support you need a Nais-decision.
Read more about becoming a mentor
Adapted hall examinations
You may have the option of an extended exam time or to sit your exam in a smaller room. A Nais adjudication does not cover tests. For tests, students should contact their examiner to enquire about possible adaptations.
More information about adapted assessments
If you have diabetes and need an insulin meter during your exam you need to apply for study support in Nais.
Physical adaptations and aids
To get access to individual support measures, you will need a Nais certificate that provides for this.
Quiet reading rooms, reading studios, talking books, braille books and personal librarian support
Our libraries have quiet reading rooms and reading studios. You can also access talking books, braille books and e-books and get help searching for information and organising references.
To the library webpage
Get a Legimus-account for audiobooks
Students with reading impairments can borrow customised books via Legimus.
More information about how to get audiobooks and a Legimus-account
Digital reading and writing aids
ClaroRead Plus
Reads on-screen text with a synthesised voice and creates audio files in mp3 format.
Easy reader
Player for audiobooks for students with dyslexia, partial vision or blindness.
Saida, SpellRight, StavaRex
Spelling and writing tools designed for people with dyslexia.
Supernova
Reading aids that enlarge text, read text and support Braille.
TorTalk
Reading aids with speech synthesisers for people with dyslexia.
WordFinder
Dictionaries, plus style and grammar checks for English text.
Software adapted to students with disabilities
To get an overview of software adapted to students with disabilities go to Chalmers and Gothenburg university common page (in Swedish).
You can find software at Studenternas programvaruportal (Student Software portal):
Educational support for doctoral students
Doctoral students may also be granted educational support for their studies, with applications made by logging into www.nais.uhr.se in the same way as for other students. Doctoral students needing support in their work environment or duties should consult their immediate supervisor at their place of work.
How students have been helped by study support
“More time for my written exams has helped me to pass more exams than before.”
“The best thing about it is having more time for written exams and the fact that I have a mentor to help me to plan and structure my studies!”
“The mentoring support really helped me in my first year.”
“The note-taking support is good. I have difficulty focusing on the person speaking whilst writing at the same time.”
