Title: The Disabled Student’s Allowance (DSAs)
Duration 4.49
Learning Support Advisor: The DSA stands for the Disabled Student’s Allowances and you can apply for this before coming to university. If you have a specific learning difficulty such as dyslexia or dyspraxia you will need a copy of your Post 16 Educational Psychologist Report. This is not the same as the Form 8 that you may have had to apply for extra time in your GCSE’s or for your A Levels. If you have a disability you will have to provide appropriate medical evidence.
The DSA consists of three allowances. The first one provides equipment and software. There is some really good mind mapping software that you can use when planning your assignments. There is also some software that will read back any documents that you may have scanned into your computer, or any documents that you may be working on.
The second allowance pays for any specialist tuition that you could have, in which you could discuss any aspect to do with your work. This could include for example, discussing strategies around planning an assignment, editing a draft of say an essay, or discussing different ways of revising for your exams.
The third allowance will cover any additional costs incurred because of your dyslexia or your dyspraxia. This could be, for example, photocopying or ink cartridge costs or any books that you may have bought providing that they are not core or essential.
To apply for these allowances you will need to fill out the DSA 1 Form, which you can download. The next step is to have a needs assessment and to do this you will need to go to a needs assessment centre. There are lots of these dotted around the UK. So you could chose to go to one near your home if you prefer, or you could go to one in Birmingham. When you go to the assessment centre you will need to take along a copy of your evidence with you. Once there you will work with a needs assessor who will discuss your needs and then write these down in a report which will be sent to your local funding body. When your funding body receives this letter and approves the DSA they will then write you a letter listing the kind of equipment you could order and the support you can access. To apply for this takes quite a while it can take up to four months, so in the mean time we offer you what we call our “four scheme”, which means that we give you four 1 hour appointments. We can also lend you comes equipment and/or software from our equipment pool. Do remember, it is important to apply for your DSA as soon as possible, but if you have any worries, any queries please don’t hesitate to get in touch with a member of the learning support team.
If you have a disability other than dyslexia or dyspraxia and you would like some further advice please do not hesitate to get in contact with the disability team.
Student 1: Dyslexic students can apply for DSA at any time but I would advise, myself personally, that you apply for it as soon as possible. It’s really simple you can just download the forms from the web, but if you’re like me and you have problems filling in forms the learning support team are there to help you with this.
Student 2: The great thing about Disabled Students Allowance is as well as specialist equipment, that you get help with photocopying and printing. As an English student I have to print of loads of articles and photocopy loads of chapters from books. So I found this really helpful. The other great thing without Disability Student Allowance you couldn’t get regular tuition.
Student 3: The assistive software if really useful especially the training. The trainer comes in two half day slots and is extremely flexible and if you still don’t understand it the learning support team can help.
Mind mapping software is extremely helpful for planning essays and for revision. It’s really important to spend time learning how to use the software as it saves a lot of time when you are rushing for exams and your essays.
Student 4: Don’t forget to apply for your DSA, the sooner you do it the easier it will be, but don’t worry if you haven’t, go and see your learning support advisor as soon as possible.
