About @ease Supporters

At Keio University, the @ease supporter program has been established to support the learning of students with disabilities. Each semester, we invite applications from students across the undergraduate faculties and graduate schools, and those selected are employed as Keio temporary staff, carrying out a range of support activities on a paid basis.

To further enrich the support for students with disabilities that it had been building since 2018, the Office for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion launched the “@ease Project” in June 2022. It is a project that aspires to foster—across the whole of Keio, and as something each of us regards as our own concern—an environment in which everyone, with or without a disability, can learn together, support one another, and at times be supported in return. The students who advance this endeavour together with our Office for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (Office of Accessible Education), supporting fellow students with disabilities, are the @ease supporters.

The @ease supporter logo was selected by a vote among supporters, from designs submitted by our very first cohort. Built around Keio’s signature navy and set in a rounded, warm typeface, its colours and line weights are carefully chosen so that the mark is easy to recognise—including for people with colour vision differences. The fresh green line beneath the lettering evokes a new wind that turns the campus into a place where everyone can feel at ease; the trajectory of support carried from hand to hand as everyone helps one another; and a step forward toward the future. A right hand, having received support from a left hand, weaves the hearts gathered from everyone into part of a wing—an image of taking flight toward the future, like a bird.

・Communication access: Note-taking / PC-based captioning—working in pairs to transcribe lecture audio in real time and convey what is happening in the room.

・On-campus support & mobility assistance: Assistance with movement in classrooms and event venues, and guidance over steps and slopes and for wheelchair users.

・Ceremony support & operations standby: providing live captions for broadcasts and guiding attendees.

・Accessible reading: digitising printed books and materials to create an easy-to-access reading environment.

・Captioning for on-demand videos

・And more: Taking part in the training that support requires, assisting faculty and staff with disabilities, and so on.

The project’s activities are also featured in the following articles:

・Apply: Submit your application through the dedicated form.

・Interview: Attend an interview with staff from the Office for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion.

・Offer & employment contract: Once selected, you sign an employment contract as a Keio temporary staff member.

・Begin activities: Provide paid support during your free periods.

Recruitment is announced each semester on the Office for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion website and on K-Support. No experience is necessary: a range of workshops—kick-off events, note-taking / PC captioning, Universal Manners Certification, and more—is held at the start of each semester, so you can learn from the ground up. Support activities are arranged around your free time between classes, practicums, and other commitments. We warmly welcome applications from anyone with even a budding interest in offering support.

Workshops and training are held before each semester begins, so that even those without experience can learn from the ground up.