The University now has a well-established policy aimed at recruiting and assisting disabled students. Use this link for details of the University's Disability Equality Scheme. The purpose of this note is to explain how this Statement has been adopted within the School of Economics, Finance and Management.
Bristol welcomes applications from disabled students and makes a commitment to helping them while they are here. Inter alia, this includes students with dyslexia and D/deaf students. Obviously disabilities are enormously varied, both in terms of their nature and severity and each case will need to be considered individually in order to provide the relevant level of support. Along with the rest of the University we are committed to promoting equal opportunities and equal treatment for all of our students.
UCAS classifies disabilities under the following categories: dyslexia, blind/partially sighted; deaf or hard of hearing; wheelchair user or mobility difficulties; individuals with mental health difficulties; and individuals who have an unseen disability, e.g. diabetes, epilepsy, heart condition.
Our admissions team has met with the University Access Unit staff to find out more about the services that they provide and are committed to a policy of widening participation when considering applications from disabled students.
Help for disabled students is mainly provided by:
The Access Unit offer advice and information to disabled students in order for them to obtain additional time in examinations and to receive a DSA (Disabled Student's Allowance). This allowance is ONLY available to UK students, who must apply to their LEA for it. The allowance can be used to finance equipment, assessments, Access Unit support, interpreters, voice recognition software etc. i.e. the additional extra costs incurred by disabled students. It is not income assessed and is available to most full-time undergraduates, some post-graduates and part-time undergraduates studying on a 50%+ FTE course.
Non-UK students (including those from the EU) are NOT eligible for a DSA. This is explained to them if they are made an offer, in a letter from the Access Unit in liaison with the appropriate Admissions Tutor. Any student in this category is encouraged to contact the Access Unit to find out about alternative funding before they accept a place with us. The Student Funding Office can also help with this.
Information days are arranged by the Access Unit for disabled applicants who have been offered a place by the University. As part of the University's commitment to widening participation, the Admissions Office sends a letter to all FT undergraduate applicants who identify themselves as disabled on their UCAS form. This letter gives them information about the Access Unit and the support they can expect to receive at Bristol. It is made clear that disabled student do not prejudice their applications by identifying themselves as such.
When a disabled student accepts a place with us, we liaise with the Access Unit and the student before teaching starts, to ascertain what special needs they have and to try to discover how these can best be addressed. Many will not need immediate help but for those who do this will save a lot of time later on and will help them to settle in at the University. In more serious cases, they may not be able to do their work properly without such help being implemented, leaving them with a significant disadvantage when compared to their peers. In a recent Student Satisfaction Survey students identified this early contact as particularly useful.
