Disabled Student's Allowance -- worth applying for mental health?

Isis_Black

sh1305 wrote: »

Why should we? They'll probably work it out anyway. (well, for those of us who need things in alternative formats)

It's called reasonable adjustments. By being the equipment, no-one is at a disadvantage to non-disabled students.

You lot do need to stop being do judgemental. I (and I'm sure many others) would rather have no disabilities, not receive DSA and be able to complete their degree like everyone else has done.

oh god yeah i would love to be so different!

and as another poster said, i too have already done the work aspect of life, i did terribly at school and this has now been put down to depression as i am working so much better these day now i am on the meds
i have done work and in most of the jobs i have had a i have been the victim of management bullying the last job i had it was a very clicky place and they didnt like that i had come in and got on with my NVQ with no porblems and was highly praised by assessor as i was working at level 3 quialty! they really didnt like that so they got at me wore me down and i ended up even worse than i was before but with them i now see they wre jsut being pathetic and had nothing better to do as they had done the same thing to someone before me who i am now firends with so we ahve helped each other get over the bullying of that palce ( and no the manager did nothing as she was thier best friend, i treid to take it higher but nothing and i jsut couldnt go on with it any longer) or it really wasnt the job that was in the advert, though they were understanding when i finally got diagnosed and were sad to see me leave, they were gonna offer me all the help i needed but to me the help i needed was to get out of the place as it was the students i was working with that were bringing me down too.
so on the whole no i didnt actually cope well with work but i had no idea for a long time what was wrong with me, and of course bullying is !!!!!! no one should ever have to be bullied in the workplace.

bodmil

sh1305 wrote: »

Why should we?

Because if you go to an employer with a degree certificate stating you met the requirements but actually didn't.... it's kind of lying isn't it? I wouldn't class that as reasonable, an extension on a deadline or two maybe, but to entirely avoid a library is failing to complete a pretty fundamental part of research and, well life. If you're not able to do that, then that's degree is just not for you and similar jobs aren't either, but don't give the impression you can.

bitsandpieces

bodmil wrote: »

Because if you go to an employer with a degree certificate stating you met the requirements but actually didn't.... it's kind of lying isn't it? I wouldn't class that as reasonable, an extension on a deadline or two maybe, but to entirely avoid a library is failing to complete a pretty fundamental part of research and, well life. If you're not able to do that, then that's degree is just not for you and similar jobs aren't either, but don't give the impression you can.

A degree doesn't assess whether someone works in a library or takes the books home or is loaded and buys every book they want to look at off of Amazon. Being able to research a topic is - and should be - a requirement of pretty much all degree programmes. How a student accesses reading materials is up to them, though.

Some people aren't able to access libraries for various reasons - for example, their disability may prevent them from leaving their homes. Why should they be prevented from studying?

Indie_Kid

bodmil wrote: »

Because if you go to an employer with a degree certificate stating you met the requirements but actually didn't.... it's kind of lying isn't it? I wouldn't class that as reasonable, an extension on a deadline or two maybe, but to entirely avoid a library is failing to complete a pretty fundamental part of research and, well life. If you're not able to do that, then that's degree is just not for you and similar jobs aren't either, but don't give the impression you can.

Except we're not lying:
I struggle with reading. For this reason, I was given a scanner and some software. Should I declare this to a future employer?

Char_pdc

bodmil wrote: »

Because if you go to an employer with a degree certificate stating you met the requirements but actually didn't.... it's kind of lying isn't it? I wouldn't class that as reasonable, an extension on a deadline or two maybe, but to entirely avoid a library is failing to complete a pretty fundamental part of research and, well life. If you're not able to do that, then that's degree is just not for you and similar jobs aren't either, but don't give the impression you can.

There are a lot of electronic resources available currently, such as ebooks. Many degree programs also require you to read source material published in journals and most of this can be accessed online from any computer. There is in fact a move towards electronic rather than print journals, I presume for economic and environmental reasons, although I am not an expert in this.

I used to avoid the library because it was so busy and noisy I couldn't concentrate but I used to access the information elsewhere and in other ways.

Isis_Black

yeah will say you do not HAVE to use the library, if you can afford to buy all the books you need then thats it, the rest of info could be found on the net.
But just because someone cannot go into the library doenst mean they cannot do thier degree or even do a job in the future. it sint one of hte passing marks of the degree `you must spend so many hours in the library or you fail'

Absinthe_Fairy

bodmil wrote: »

Because if you go to an employer with a degree certificate stating you met the requirements but actually didn't.... it's kind of lying isn't it? I wouldn't class that as reasonable, an extension on a deadline or two maybe, but to entirely avoid a library is failing to complete a pretty fundamental part of research and, well life. If you're not able to do that, then that's degree is just not for you and similar jobs aren't either, but don't give the impression you can.

A library these days isn't just about the physical library environment. Electronic resources that can be accessed from home are also important and, depending on the subject, it could be easily possible to research a topic thoroughly without ever setting foot in a library. Also, as other people have said, it's possible to buy the books yourself. Are you supposed to tick a box on your degree form saying whether you bought the books or had them on loan from the library?

(From a librarian-in-training )

bodmil

This isn't a case of rich vs poor, I don't think money comes into it. At the end of the day, if you can't assimilate the information that is required independently, and in the vast majority of fields stepping into a library at one point or another, or SIMILAR environment, is inevitable, then that should be reflected to employers.
If you're just doing a degree for fun then it shouldn't matter at the end of it. But, if it is being used as proof of ability, then lack of that ability ought to be noted so it's up to the employer if they want to take on someone who will need more help then other employees.
The library is just an example, I think someone mentioned presentations being an issue, or group discussions, but whatever 'disability' that is, what is the point in saying you are fully competent, if you're not? It needs to be pointed out to an employer, it's only going to come out in the end.

GlasweJen

I applied for DSA at uni, went to the assessment and was told

"you need a laptop because of your learning difficulties but can't have one because of your blackouts"
"we recommend dragon naturally speaking software but it probably isn't suitable because of your lisp"
"you can't record lectures with a dictaphone even though you black out because your concentration isn't rubbish"

I ended up getting a desktop PC which wasn't all that helpful because I couldn't take it to uni with me and I couldn't use the computing centre at uni because of the heart condition. I did get an allowance to buy blue paper and printer ink but wasn't allowed to submit in blue so didn't use that much, I wasn't allowed additional travel expenses even though I can't drive or use public transport on my own (did get public transport expenses though as I am Scottish), I got a printer and scanner which was good because the scanner could scan books and convert them to audio so that was the only resource I really used, I bought my own dictaphone with my bursary.

Indie_Kid

GlasweJen wrote: »

"you can't record lectures with a dictaphone even though you black out because your concentration isn't rubbish"

I did get an allowance to buy blue paper and printer ink but wasn't allowed to submit in blue so didn't use that much.

I'm so glad things have changed now:
I was given coloured paper and a dictaphone. (amongst other things) I just had to inform my lecturers about this and they were fine about it. I got told there are rules about using the dictaphone; (confindentuality) however, this didn't affect me.