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I’ve been dealing with DSA (disabled students allowance) during the past couple of weeks, in preparation for my start at uni next month. For those who don’t know, DSA supplies equipment, support etc to ensure disabled students can access their uni degrees on an equal footing. 1/
For me part of this support includes mobility training at the start of the year. Having no sight, I need initial input to learn routes around campus, and to ensure I can live independently in a new city. I was allowed mobility support, and have been in touch with the provider. 2/
Having been granted 10 hours of mobility support (I’ll come back to this), I was talking to the habilitation specialist, who’ll deliver the support, about what I felt I needed to learn, and what would be the best use of our time. 3/
“Routes around the college, to get to tutorials, libraries, food [important], and to the local shop/bus stop/cash point, etc” — perfectly reasonable and all essentials, in my view. 4/
DSA will only fund mobility training which is onsite. This means that for me, anything that isn’t within the bounds of my college, or directly related to my course (faculty buildings etc) is not covered, at all. This might sound reasonable: DSA facilitates access to study. 5/
I wouldn’t, for example, expect them to fund mobility training to get me to local pubs/clubs (although an argument re: social well-being could very easily be made in support of this). However, I would’ve thought that accessing the local shop, for a pint of milk, would be OK. 6/
In my situation, I’m lucky to have access to @guidedogs, as I’m a guide dog owner, who will support me with external routes. But for others this is a massive gap, and a huge failing of DSA. Accessing local essentials like shops and bus stops is key to independent student life. 7/
Funding mobility solely on an academic needs basis is extremely shortsighted; a student may be able to get from their accommodation to their lecture, but they may very well be entirely socially isolated, and unable to get basic essentials to make a drink/breakfast, and have no 8/
clean clothes as they can’t go out safely/independently to buy washing powder. In the age of Covid, being as independent, and as confident in that independence, as possible is more important than ever, and I fear many disabled students will be left behind from day 1. 9/
Backtracking ever so slightly, I just want to address the allocation of hours for mobility support especially. I am a relatively confident person when it comes to independent travel, in part due to Lacey, my guide dog. Having never lived in Oxford before, and with limited 10/
past opportunity to explore my learning environments for this academic year, I have absolutely no idea how long it will take me, with a mobility specialist, to learn the routes I’ll need. Giving me a quota from the very start puts the pressure on me, to learn quickly, and 11/
possibly not as thoroughly. As with anything, as soon as there’s pressure to do something quickly, the slower it becomes, as your awareness of, and panic at, the deadline takes over. Limiting the amount of support makes no sense, and doesn’t best support the student. 12/
Additional hours can be requested by the student: this involves contacting the original needs assessment centre to explain why they are necessary. This in itself is another huge flaw with the system. Why can’t the government just give disabled students the support we need? 13/13
