Anonymous email expresses concern over threats to support for Deaf and disabled students

Again a case where we need to be smarter, not whinier. That means sitting down and INTERACTING and teaching others what needs to be done and not done. Signing petitions is generally ineffective. You have to get in the face of the decision makers and make your case compelling and that means communication competency. A Terp cannot communicate your passion, just cannot. You have to make yourself indispensable. Now, presently int he United States, this is not a an issue like in Great Britain. But, we have to become articulate, in any way we can. If we cannot articulate a sane and worthwhile concept – then why are we there? Again, the problem is real, the answer – Deaf people and their support teams have to advocate and advocate sanely, smartly and effectively. Sitting mute on the sideline will not achieve that. We have to make numbers talk (ironic?).

I wrote two blogposts about the DSA changes cos I am a university disability adviser myself and considered to be a bit of a nerd about the many flavours of DSA.
Blogposts:
1) The main funding changes: http://natalyad.dreamwidth.org/10553.html
2) More info about what people can do and press releases from disability orgs etc http://natalyad.dreamwidth.org/11093.html

While I do agree the changes are worrying it is worth noting a few things.

A) Equipment is difficult. While institutions will not specifically say a computer is required, this is increasingly becoming the status quo – it starts to become like not having a notepad and pen or in the 90s people paid for their dissertations to be typed or bought a typewriter… I am in a few minds about whether this should be DSA funded for students when non DSA students have to purchase their own. On the other hand disabled students are more likely to be poor, less likely to be able to work, have to do more hours to keep up (cos deaf people have to compensate for what we don’t hear directly or incidentally) and experience concentration fatigue etc etc… Equipment is the area most of our students are worried about. I also agree it’ll end up like Access to Work where the support is agreed but the equipment to access it won’t be agreed – leaving the deaf/disabled person in the middle. This might be a case of DSA funding something which isn’t technically its responsibility of “academic related costs which a disabled person faces because of disability”… There might be other avenues of funding for this required… I also agree it’s a logistical nightmare as non-DSA computers are hideous, often old, often break, are so many different specifications that software doesn’t work… I hate as techie at my place handling non-DSA computers for students, DSA ones can currently be returned to supplier for repair or replacement… Difficult, but a not unexpected cut/change even if it is based on the dodgiest Endsleigh study ever, counteracts other research and so on… Feedback on this area specifically about why students couldn’t afford their own cos of disability would be very useful!

2) Notetaking (and all other band 1 and 2 non medical helper support like sighted guides etc), this will fall to institutions to fund. Many institutions are adopting lecture recording systems which I know from personal experenceare NOT accessible to deaf students, but are an improvement to say 50% of students who need notetaking for other reasons like handwriting impairments, fatigue or concentration issues etc. In theory some students who need notetaking won’t need it if lecture recording systems are in place cos they link the video to slides and stuff. Some lecture recording platforms have access to human captioning of the entire content within 5 days of the lecture going up for $2 per minute of audio. This makes the ‘text’ of the lecture searchable and would for many deaf students resolve notetaking issues too. Universities may decide to start captioning when they work out it’s not that expensive, or there is a deaf student on the course… In many ways if this was the default as is happening in Australia I believe this would be a great inclusion by design. No more “singled out by the notetaker” effect, no friends whining that it’s not fair that YOU don’t have to take notes, but the same access for everyone. In social model of disability terms – this is ideal if it happened.

3) At this time communication support such as Sign Language Interpreters, lipspeakers, STTRs etc is not under threat. SFE the main English funding body specifically takes STTR out of the new funding bands for Non Medical Helper (NMH) allowance cos they know it varies. Deaf students already face issues with DSA overspend as undergrads get 20k ish NMH allowance and postgrads get about 10k total (whether full or part time). Deaf students’ support costs more that DSA provides “DSA overspend” and it should be up to institutions to top this up if it is a genuine third party recommendation which shows the deaf person cannot access university study via cheaper ways. Don’t let them fob you off. If the support offered is inadequate, complain, in writing, challenge it… If the institution says it is unreasonable, challenge that. If that doesn’t work try the Office of the Independent Adjudicator or taking legal action. Not fair, but the reality is we need to establish somewhere what is and is not reasonable and where the law draws the line cos at the moment universities are guessing and hoping no one sues/complains hard.

4) Double funding – we don’t have enough information at this point to determine what BIS means by this. Already under existing rules I have struggled to get my deaf or HOH students things like a radio aid AND notetaking, but I can justify this as TWO separate functions. A radio aid increases signal to noise ratio and reduces the distance squared law decrease in sound loudness effect. It makes it easier for some deaf people to understand speech in a large room (but in my experience isn’t terribly useful in a very noisy room). A radio aid could be useful for increasing real-time access to a lecture or say tutorial session. Notetakers are primarily for record of the session because deaf students cannot take notes AND lipread at the same time, it is for post lecture followup.

I have also at one point had a student who was refused a sign language interpreter for seminars (group discussions) because they had a radio aid. Suffice to say my response this once I’d stopped swearing about stupidity was to write a very stern set of emails outlining the differences between the two provisions to the funding body. Again it was a bit of an argument but our recommendations prevailed and the student was able to use radio aid and a terp.

Many of the changes are really vague as all heck. That’s half the issue, we don’t know what we’re up against or how it will be implemented in reality for students. Institutions will definitely have more responsibility to fund some stuff, so it might be instead of SFE or NHS or Research
Council etc that students will need to hold their institution to account for disability related academic support. It will come down to disability advisers and DSA needs assessors to make strong and justified recommendations and be prepared to complain where a particular individual or group of students is disadvantaged.

Please do sign the petition listed in this article above.

Give feedback to National Association of Disability Practitioners at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/143wrLGqbIaiVhKQD5yS24uuVltQFyaTyynEfx9i67cY/viewform

If you can find time, write to your MP about what support you had and why it was vital for university.

Fingers crossed the multiple groups challenging this will have some luck in reducing the impact of some of it. Applicants to university should not worry about not being accepted on places any more than present – i.e I can’t promise it doesn’t happen, but it should NOT happen if that makes sense.

If people here want to ask questions in comments then I will try and answer them later after work as and when I can. There are some things I can’t say cos they haven’t been made public or they are “in discussion” but I shall do my best to identify what is unknown and what is being challenged.