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Student finance has succeeded in reducing me to tears. The disabled students allowance form wasn't accessible, so someone changed the format for me. They are now refusing to process my application.
It's still a word document, the questions are the same, all that's been changed are some formatting things so I can fill it in with my screenreader. I can't get any support as a disabled student without this.
This is a service delivered by the Student Loans Company and ultimately controlled by the government. They are failing us at every possible opportunity and I don't know how to keep fighting.
I have offered them solution after solution, taking my own time to try and find a way to make this accessible. But they won't work with me at all unless I can physically write by hand or work with an inaccessible document.
With every day that passes I am a day closer to starting university. I still have to go to a needs assessment, have the assessor make equipment recommendations, get those approved and then ordered. The longer this drags on the more likely I am to start without support.
I've done my best to work with a process that refuses to acknowledge my access needs. I've advocated, made requests and been resourceful, but it isn't enough. I've done all the things we're told will help.
And this happened after I submitted an official complaint and also attended a meeting with SLC and a big blindness org in which they made lots of noise about really caring about being accessible. People wonder why when they say this I don't believe them until I see proof.
