Disabled students taking science degrees.

kar

If he's thinking of Chemistry I'd recommend Manchester Uni. All the lecture theatres in the chemistry building are accessable by wheelchair etc. (you get the left to the basement and in through the side door rather than the main entrance). They are just building new labs where everyone has their own fume cupboards etc. Depending on the nature of his disability DSA may be able to pay for help in labs if not the poor Phd students who have to supervise are lovely and help you when ever you need. I'm the clumsest person i've met and I never had problems - (even if i did break lots of things). Most important thing is to carry a copy of his report with him - stating what support he should recieve. If anyone gives him issues show them.

"That bit about the timetable taking account of the disabled students on modules does not happen in my experience.
I know it should but it has not happened to people I know and there are issues of them not being able to get to the class."

This depends on the disability - hearing impairment, visual imparment and physical disabilities must be taken into account and appropriate provisions made. Yes 200 people can be forced to change lecture theatre because one person needs a sign language interpretor. It does happen. They just need to make their voice heard. Go to Disability support serivces make a complaint and vola next week lecture moved to accessable room.

Heth_2

Can your friend not go and visit the unis he/she is interested in before applying? I certainly visited every uni I applied to, either going to an open day or arranging a private visit where I'd meet someone (usually head of admissions but not always) in the department. I was applying from abroad so had issues of different school qualifications, but your friend should arrange to visit the departments he/she is interested in, see the labs, and discuss the lab work content of the course with one of the lecturers/head of admissions. That should make them more confident they will be able to manage the course.

(I did physics, in the first year we did one day lab work once a week, in later years it was 2 days every fortnight. We worked in pairs apart from the computer lab work)

studentphil

He has been to visit and they all say "Yeah Yeah it is fine" they will help him and not to worry, but that might just be lip service and then once he is there they may not help him.

So it is tricky.

melancholly

if they say that they'll help, then i'd give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that they will. if someone is not getting the help they require then there are countless avenues to approach the problem from - speaking to tutors, escalating to head of course and head of department, going through your course student representative, speaking to a member of the students union..... if your friend was not being helped as much as they needed, then they can do something about it - sometimes you have to go ask for it rather than waiting for people to notice, granted!

as far as lab time goes, the same course at different unis will have different practical components - it may be worth looking into how the course is assessed because individual practical exams may prove difficult (and personally, i found them nasty and would much sooner write an essay!)