Disability & Neurodiversity Support
Advice and support for disabled and neurodivergent students
Many students do not consider themselves to have a disability. However, there are times where students experience barriers, and we are here to help remove those barriers.
We have a team of advisers to support any disabled or neurodivergent student who have:
- sensory or physical impairments
- long term health conditions
- mental health conditions
- specific learning differences, such as dyslexia, dyspraxia or dyscalculia
- ADHD
- autism
We are here to help remove barriers to ensure students have the best opportunity to progress and succeed in their studies, but making sure the most appropriate support is put in place.
When should I share my information and where does it go?
Sharing, or ‘disclosing’ a disability means giving details about the effect your disability or neurodiversity has on your day-to-day life. This information is used to assess what support is required. We recommend contacting us as soon as possible to ensure your support is in place early. You are under no obligation to disclose, but if you choose not to, then you are unlikely to receive the full support you are entitled to.
With permission, we liaise with your academic department, and, where appropriate, central University departments such as the Exams Office.
Any information that you provide will be dealt with confidentially and separately from your academic application. We will NOT contact your academic department without your permission. If your disclosure is 'limited' to either departmental staff or the Disability and Neurodiversity Support Team, the support available may be more limited. Although we co-ordinate support across the University, we may be unable to arrange some type of support without the involvement of specific staff (i.e. exams, heads of department etc.).
How do I share my information?
Please contact our self-referral form along with supporting documentation or evidence as early as possible. The form for applicants can be found here.
The evidence must either be the original version written in English, or an original copy in a language other than English, accompanied by an official translation. The translation must be by a professional translator, often referred to as a 'sworn translator' in the EU.
Further guidance as to what information is suitable can be found on the Disabled Students UK website.
Support Recommendations
Once we have suitable evidence, we will liaise with you to prepare a preliminary list of appropriate teaching, learning, and assessment support recommendations (if required). This may be by email, in person, via video call or by phone. Our aim is to have these support recommendations in place by the first teaching week of your new course of study, or as soon as possible once you have contacted us. Some examples of support we can recommend include:
- Alternative exam arrangements such as additional time in formal exams and class tests, rest breaks, adapted papers e.g. enlarged font, and a reader/scribe
- Reasonable adjustments in lectures e.g. consent to record lectures, accessible teaching rooms, hand-outs and lecture slide presentations in advance of lectures
- Access to assistive technology available such as TextHelp Read and Write. Further free assistive technology is available
- Extended library loans
- Tutorials to devise study techniques that are compatible with your way of working
- The combination of these and others will depend on the nature of your condition and how it affects your studies.
Support recommendations and any updates will be forwarded to academic Schools and the Exams Office within five working days of receipt by/agreement with the Disability & Neurodiversity Support Team. We will amend support recommendations at any stage of study on receipt of appropriate additional supporting evidence.
Personal Care
The University does not provide support or funding for Personal Care or medical treatment (including medication, medical supplies or mobility equipment) because these things would be required even if you were not a student. Any travel costs to receive medical treatment are also your responsibility.
If you need any non-academic support with daily living tasks such as personal care, shopping, cooking and laundry you will need to access this support independently.
If you require on-going personal assistance, we expect you to employ a care assistant, and you would need to pay for this yourself or other funding means. Charges will vary depending on the type of support that may be required, and arrangements would need to be confirmed well in advance of you arriving at university. We can advise on potential local sources of personal care support if necessary, although we do not recommend any specific agency and accept no liability as regards all aspects of support provided by care providers.
Wheelchairs can be rented from a local mobility hire provider if needed.
We are happy to talk to you about financial assistance towards academic and non-academic disability-related costs, although please be aware that any alternative sources of funding are likely to be limited and need to be applied for well in advance of your arrival.
We also have a document for Information for Visiting Personal Care Assistants.
Information for parents, guardians and carers
We recognise how important parental support can be for students at university and that some students may wish for their parents/carers to be able to contact us and be kept informed of support arrangements during their transition to university. However, we will need full written consent from students before we can disclose any information to a third party and will be unable to discuss anything outside of support arrangements such as exam results and attendance.
The student is responsible for arranging their own daily living tasks, including personal care, shopping, cooking and laundry. We do not provide this service.
Financial Support
- Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA)
Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA) is a non-means-tested and non-repayable source of funding available to Home students, intended to help meet the extra disability-related costs incurred while studying at University. This fund can help to pay for additional support such as study skills tuition, mentoring support, and software and equipment support. The fund pays for the support directly and so you do not get any additional money directly.
The support you receive from the University is in many ways independent of the support you receive through DSA, and if you choose not to apply for DSA you can still receive support from the University. However, certain types of support are likely to be unavailable without the appropriate funding in place. More information can be found on the UCAS website or by contacting us. We also have a Frequently Asked Questions page for DSA.
- Aston Support Fund (£200 DSA laptop student contribution grant)
If you are a full time enrolled Undergraduate student, and your DSA confirmation of funding letter includes the purchase of a laptop, you may be awarded a one-off £200 grant to cover your contribution towards the cost of the laptop. Please contact us for more information regarding eligibility.
- Erasmus
There is an additional support fund available for disabled students who are on the Erasmus+ programme at Aston. For further information please contact erasmus@aston.ac.uk
- International Students
International and EU students are not normally eligible for the same financial support as UK-resident students and we strongly advise that you ensure appropriate funding is in place before you arrive at university.
Aston University will make every effort to help you find ways of paying for any support you need, but you or your sponsors may be asked to pay for resources or equipment such as personal care, study support workers, sign language interpreters, equipment or extensive brailing. You should contact us as early as possible for advice.
Policies and procedures
The following policies and guidance documents detail relevant processes and procedures for students. We also have relevant processes for our staff and visitors, supporting students with disabilities and other learning supports needs.
Contact us
- Get in touch
By phone: 0121 204 4007
By email: AskUs@aston.ac.uk
- Emergency contacts
If you are on Campus, contact Security on 0121 359 2922 from an external telephone (2222 on an internal phone), who will contact the Emergency Services for you.
If you’re off-campus, dial 999 for emergency services.
The closest Accident and Emergency Centre to Campus is Birmingham City Hospital, Dudley Road, B18 7QH.
The closest NHS Walk in Centre is Halcyon Medical, Unit 8, 24 Martineau Place, Birmingham B2 4UH, and open:
- 8am-6:30pm - Monday to Friday
- 10am-2pm - Saturday
- 11am-2pm - Sunday