How can the Disability & Dyslexia Support (DDS) team help?
Disability & Dyslexia Support (DDS) is a dedicated service for students who have a disability. We provide advice on available support and will help coordinate your support to ensure that there are no barriers to your learning, enabling you to get the most from your time at LSBU.
Who do we support?
The word disability can mean different things to different people – there may be support available to you even if you don’t consider yourself to be disabled. We support students with any long term condition (using the definition of disability in the Equality Act 2010) that has an impact on day to day activity, including study. This means that we support students including those who:
have a specific learning difficulty (SpLD) e.g. dyslexia, dyspraxia, dyscalculia, or Attention Deficit (Hyperactivity) Disorder (AD(H)D)
have a physical or mobility difficulty
are blind or visually impaired
are D/deaf or hard of hearing
have a mental health difficulty e.g. depression, anxiety, eating disorder, or personality disorder
have a long term health condition e.g. diabetes, epilepsy, chronic fatigue syndrome, or arthritis
have a progressive condition such as HIV, cancer, or multiple sclerosis
have an autism spectrum disorder (ASD)
Generally a disability must be long term. In an educational setting, long term means a condition that has lasted, or is expected to last at least 12 months.
International students
Any student with a disability, regardless of nationality, can contact DDS. However, if you are considered an international student for fees purposes, you may not be entitled to further external funding, for example DSA (Disabled Students’ Allowances) but we can arrange internal support.
How to access support
You can register with DDS:
by disclosing a disability on your application to study at LSBU,
by contacting us directly,
at enrolment,
at any time during your studies.
You are encouraged to register with DDS as this means that support can be provided at the right time. If the University doesn’t know about your disability, we will not be able to provide the right support.
Supporting Documents
When you register with the service, we'll ask for supporting documents about your disability. This might be a diagnostic report or letter from your GP. This helps us to gather all relevant information to provide you with the right kind of support, and avoid providing support that's not appropriate. If you do not have any supporting documents, we will still be able to recommend necessary support arrangements for you, and we can advise on obtaining evidence where necessary.
Support available
We can offer:
confidential advice with a disability adviser by phone, video call, email, and via in-person appointments
assessments of students’ access and support needs
Support Arrangements, which might include adjustments to teaching, assessments, and exams
help to access disability related funding
help to access equipment and assistive technology
arranging support, such as specialist study skills tuition, mentoring, communication support
screenings and/or assessments for students who have, or think they may have, dyslexia or another specific learning difference
Signposting to other University support services, as well as external support.
Your Disability Advisor
When you first contact DDS, you will be put in touch with a disability advisor, who will be your key named contact (although you can speak with anyone in the DDS team). Your disability adviser will:
discuss the impact of your disability on your studies
identify barriers and obstacles
determine the adjustments, equipment or support needed to overcome these barriers
identify funding you are eligible for and help you to apply
agree Support Arrangements and share them with relevant staff at the University, with your consent
agree any next steps to put support in place
provide further advice via email/phone/appointment to solve any problems or review support.
