I risk being accused of bragging here, but in my lifetime I have managed to complete not one but three degrees – a BSc, a PGCE and an MA. I could not have completed any of them without Disabled Student Allowances (DSAs).
This is government funding that disabled students can apply for to pay for equipment and support costs at university. For me it has covered the costs of radio aids, note takers, BSL interpreters and speech to text reporters. Thanks to DSAs thousands of deaf people can now call themselves graduates.
However, this is an age of austerity and public spending is being scrutinised. Last year the Government in England announced that it wanted to make changes to DSAs in order to redress the balance between funding from DSAs and the contribution Higher Education (HE) providers make towards disabled students’ support costs. These included:
- Removing DSAs funding for some types of less-specialised support workers such as note takers, proof readers and study support assistants. Instead it is proposed that they will now be funded by universities as reasonable adjustments under the Equality Act.
- Removing DSAs funding for adaptations to student accommodation managed by universities.
- Removing DSAs funding for some types of IT equipment and accessories.
NDCS is concerned. I do not have enough word space to talk about all of the proposals in detail here but let’s focus on note takers as they are currently used by lots of deaf students.
They provide a valuable service for those relying on lip-reading or BSL interpreters which make it very difficult to take comprehensive notes during lectures and classes (trust me – try writing and lip-reading at the same time!).
We fear that if note takers are no longer funded through DSAs and left to universities to fund we could see universities seek alternatives such as:
- referring deaf students to lecture handouts. From my experience, handouts from lecturers can be very variable – some will provide detailed documents whilst with others you’ll be lucky to get anything more than a reading list they put together in 1995.
- or encouraging deaf students to photocopy the notes of a fellow student. Thinking back to my frequently hungover and half-awake peers I dread to think what would have happened if my education had been dependent on quality of the notes of whoever happened to be sitting next to me!
Earlier this year NDCS Youth Advisory Board member Zanna Messenger Jones initiated legal action to challenge the Government’s proposals on the grounds of insufficient consultation (among others).
The Government backed down and last month launched a public consultationwhich is now open to individuals and organisations to respond to. There is a response form consisting of 25 questions that can be completed online. Click here to see NDCS’s draft response.
We are encouraging deaf young people to contribute their views to the consultation. The 25 question response form is not particularly easy to complete.
Therefore, NDCS has created a friendlier version of the form that the government has agreed to accept. The views of deaf people who currently are at university or have recently finished are particularly welcome as they will have experience of requesting universities to make reasonable adjustments.
It should be noted that the government is not proposing that more specialised support such as BSL interpreters or electronic note takers should no longer be funded by DSAs. However, these services still fall under the scope of the consultation questions.
It is not only England that these changes are being considered but Wales too with the Welsh government having carried out an engagement exercise earlier this year.
NDCS believes that without sufficient safeguards the Government’s proposals risk making Higher Education less accessible to deaf young people or leaving disabled students in limbo where they get no support because the university can’t agree what reasonable adjustments it should make.
It would be a crime if the achievement rates of deaf people in higher education were to fall in the drive to cut costs.
To respond to the consultation visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/disabled-students-in-higher-education-funding-proposals.
Or young people can complete our modified version.
Make sure you get your response in by the deadline of 24th September.
Martin McLean is the NDCS’s Education and Training Policy Advisor (post-14).
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pennybsl
August 28, 2015
Hear hear.
The issue is also crucial for us mature Deaf students who wish to upgrade skills at Uni level in order to contribute efficiently in public service, like education, health and care for young deaf people.
Evidence came to light that the Government saves £24 billion A YEAR in unclaimed benefits….more reason to stand up in justified anger at the wasteful mishandling of the DSA as well as other support packages like ATW.
DeafStudent
August 28, 2015
Have completed the online survey. Does anyone else find the way that the questions have been asked is very interesting? You’ve got to read them really carefully, because they definitely indicate one way or another what they want you to say, especially on the yes/no type questions.
Simon
August 28, 2015
In 2009 the UK ratified the UN Convention on the rights of people with disabilities. This means that the UK government agreed that they would work to:
‘Ensure the education system at all levels is inclusive and geared towards supporting disabled people to achieve their full potential and participate equally in society’
Everyone has the right to an effective education.
No wonder UK is the first country to be investigated by the UN, if the dastardly schemes of Cameron’s success, he’ll be able to do whatever he wants, namely scrapping the DSA and ATW. I cannot picture how IDS would react if DSA and ATW gets scrapped…
Meriel
August 28, 2015
Agreed but there is an error in point 1. It is manual notetakers that no longer receive government support and who universities have to provide and pay for. They may be other students, unqualified and inexperienced. For assured quality, there is a register on http://www.anpnotetakers.co.uk. Electronic notetakers are still available under the old system and paid via SFE-Student Finance England. You can choose to go private or use the university’s source. And it is worth asking what happens if the university’s source is unable to provide the support you need – can you then go private?
Martin McLean
August 28, 2015
Meriel, the changes have not yet come into force so manual notetakers are still funded through DSAs for the 2015-16 academic year.
You are correct in that electronic notetakers will still be funded through DSAs under the Government’s proposals for 2016-17. However, the consultation document states that ‘Electronic notetaking will not be considered where it is recommended as an alternative to manual notetaking as a means to draw down DSA funding’. This clause means deaf students will have to have a strong justification to get an electronic notetaker – it might not be easy.
DeafStudent
August 29, 2015
Meriel, with regard to your last few questions. If the university supplied provision (whether notetakers or interpreters) isn’t sufficient for your needs, or you have issues in other ways, then you can – at the moment – source your own notetakers/interpreters, provided that this is listed in your ‘statement of needs’ assessment that is done at the beginning of each course. If this is the case, then you can find your own interpreters or notetakers. You would have to justify any additional cost for doing so to SFE, but provided it costs no extra it should be fine – its irrelevant to SFE where you source them from, when it costs no extra. I have found my own interpreters every year from the second year of my undergraduate degree, and have only used the university notetaking service – and even then, I request specific people every year (and have ones I won’t touch with a bargepole) and I only do that because I get those people and I’m happy with them. The university knows full well I can and am capable of finding my own notetakers so is happy to work with me on this (and is happy that I’m sorting out my own interpreters – it’s work they don’t have to do!).
But yes, this is a concern, and I have stressed in my reply to the govt that it is essential that disabled people retain control over who they employ, and have the ultimate sanction of being able to employ people from outside of university-supplied people, particularly in the case of support workers that work with the student very very closely, where those support workers are responsible for encouraging the development of the student’s independence – it is critical, then, that a good working relationship is developed, where the student has a certain amount of trust in the support worker.