Help! Uni punishing me for being genuinely ill

koppite79

Wonder if anyone can help, or at least point me in the right direction.


Whilst completing my 3rd year of my degree last year I became severely debilitated by a slipped disk in my back. It resulted in several weeks in bed during a crucial period, and many months before I could function at anything approaching a normal level.
I still managed to complete most of my work on time, but I needed some additional time to complete some assignments and others were impossible to do at the time due to their physical nature.

After speaking to the uni advice shop I was told that I should get a supporting letter from my doctor and apply for mitigating circumstances. This exists to give extra time and /or consideration to students who undergo “special circumstances which are beyond a student’s control which may be expected and/or acute”.
However, this was subsequently rejected on the grounds it was a pre-existing condition.
I feel this is extremely unfair. It was a pre-existing condition, the same as asthma, epilepsy or diabetes are pre-existing conditions. However, episodes of these illnesses as well as my own are impossible to predict or often control. If a student has an asthma attack in an exam I cannot imagine for a moment that they would not have been given dispensation to resit without penalty by my university, and I feel that my position is broadly the same.
I appealed the decision and supplied an even more detailed letter from my consultant, detailing how the condition was extremely unpredictable, that he had advised that he thought it would get better (rather than much worse) and that I would now require surgery to correct it, and hoped that with the more detailed understanding they would reverse the decision.
I today learned that after 6 weeks of waiting and chasing, they upheld the original decision. So even though I was ill, and have evidence from a senior medical consultant stating this in detail and advising that it was neither possible for me to complete the work or possible to predict that this would be the case, I am still being effectively punished by the university.

What else can I do? I feel very despondent as I don’t know who to turn to for advise (the university advise shop are part of those saying it was my own fault, and the student union at my uni are terrible, just post grad students filling out their cv’s).
However I don’t want to give up as I put a lot of effort into this and feel that the university as a public body should be accountable to fair play.

Help!

GlasweJen

you just use three words with them. disability discrimination act.

I had similar problems last year (also my 3rd) when i needed heart surgery during the term and the uni decided in all their wisdom that my cardiologist exaggerates things. Those 3 words were uttered and i got a new exam plan, some of my marks were comped, others were changed to reflect my good coursework and this year is less stress free already.

srichards

The uni did the same thing to me.

I did a degree over 4 years, never got less than a 2.1 on anything. Then the last bit of the course I had a right bad car crash and had to miss a lot of lectures. I also went through a court thing, a divorce, homelessness and with a small child, illness etc etc - put in the thingy of curcumstances -

they didnt care a hoot and I was dropped down to a measly 3rd.

koppite79

I was hoping that I could bring up something like this, as it is fairly obvious that there would be legislation protecting people from such discriminatory behaviour, particularly now that students are paying for their own education.
How exactly did you frame what you said though? If I was to persue a complaint against them under the disability discrimination act then how would I do it (or at least, how should I tell THEM that I would do it)?

poet123

Obviously, any educational establishment has to protect the value and standing of the degrees it confers by not allowing students to circumvent the rules by feigning or exaggerating illness. However,in your case with all the supporting medical evidence this is clearly not the case.

So, my advice would be the same as another poster above.....use the DDA,believe me the initials strike fear into the heart of any College or University. They are obliged to make reasonable adjustments to enable a student who has special needs to complete the course.

Make an appointment to see a solicitor and explain your situation,get his advice,then make an appointment to see the most senior member of staff you can reach, and tell them what you intend to do. Take along a letter outlining your intended course of action and include a time period after which you will begin the action,say 2 weeks.

Good luck!

mcspanna

You should be able to find out just about anything about the DDA here:

http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/yourrights/equalityanddiscrimination/Disability/Pages/Introduction.aspx

Oldernotwiser

koppite79 wrote: »

particularly now that students are paying for their own education.

What on earth's that got to do with it?

GlasweJen

i just told them, i have long term problem X i had surgery Y on these dates which made me unable to attend on these dates. I believe my problem is related to a disability as defined by the disability discrimination act and so i wish for provisions A, B and C to be put in place or i will consult with a lawyer to discuss the universitys inaction in this matter.

Northern_girl_2

If you have exhausted all the appeals and complaint procedures at the university then you can take your complaint to The Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education.

More information is available here: http://www.oiahe.org.uk/about.asp

Our student union had an education officer who supported students who needed to complain about grades etc so they might be worth a try. If they can't help you might try the 'student with disabilities officer' at NUS or Welfare Vice President. Although, it is often best to get in touch with them through your local studen union.

Good luck.

kay74

There seems to be some sort of culture of this in certain establishments. On one of my placements I was turning up with a line in my arm so I could go and get infusions in hospital each night to get me through the following day (yes, I see now the folly of this!) . However, missed 3 days of a 6 week placement and was told I would be failed on my attendance! All my marks were great but because I'd got an infection from turning up each day they wanted to fail me. DDA is definately the way to go - the people that run some of these courses are so far removed from real life that it's untrue and a healthy dose of realism can bring them to their senses. Good luck, this is probably the last hassle you need just now.

koppite79

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

What on earth's that got to do with it?

I realise that it should not make any difference, but in reality the very bottom line of this is that they are asking me to pay to resit whole of each module out of my own pocket, when they should allow me to resit the small parts of each module that I unavoidably missed without extra expense.

In effect, not only are they morally and ethically wrong, but they are trying to financially rip me off too!