Disabled Students Allownace + Access to Learning

dmg24

Mrsmanda wrote: »

I may be wrong but, reading the post about the girl who got £5000 and only spent £1500 I don't think her mother meant she got £5000 into her bank account to spend as she wished. It's more likely that the assessment came back saying she was entitled to £5000 worth of equipment but was only given £1500 worth of stuff because she didn't need the rest

I also read it this way. ROCKINGHAM's daughter did not get the extra money, it was just allocated to her if she needed it.

mikescott86

dmg24 wrote: »

So you can use a laptop in a 'quiet common room', but you cannot use a PC in a quiet computer lab? I doubt very much that you will get one if that is the reasoning that you will give.

No, that's not what I said at all. What the hell is your problem? The library PC labs are quiet, in terms of sound, because libraries are supposed to be quiet. They are always very busy, though. The common room, however, is empty. That is, nobody uses it.

You try sitting in a packed computer room making noises that you can't control and see how well you tolerate the "!!!!!!?" looks everybody gives you.

Yes, many students struggle financially, but many students can get a job. I can't. I've had nearly two dozen rejection letters this year, and my only explanation for that is that I'm honest in the medical questionnaire that comes with every application form these days.

dmg24

mikescott86 wrote: »

No, that's not what I said at all. What the hell is your problem? The library PC labs are quiet, in terms of sound, because libraries are supposed to be quiet. They are always very busy, though. The common room, however, is empty. That is, nobody uses it.

You try sitting in a packed computer room making noises that you can't control and see how well you tolerate the "!!!!!!?" looks everybody gives you.

Yes, many students struggle financially, but many students can get a job. I can't. I've had nearly two dozen rejection letters this year, and my only explanation for that is that I'm honest in the medical questionnaire that comes with every application form these days.

TBH if you are getting rejections without interviews, you need to get advice on completing applications. You mentioned Asda, you should have got an interview there under the guaranteed interview scheme. They cannot reject you due to disability, and even if some have, they would not be stupid enough to admit it to you, as they would be breaking the law.

The university can find you a quiet room with a computer in to use. You do not need your own computer to do this.

My problem is people taking advantage of their condition to get money.

Think realistically what you need (not want) due to your condition. The reasons that you have given do not warrant being given your own laptop.

mikescott86

TBH I have been given advice, and I can fill out forms just fine. My last application to ASDA was two years ago, if they have a guaranteed interview scheme as you say, then I guess it's worth applying again.

Yes, the University could find me a room and a computer. But considering the lack of rooms most Universities have, that's a LOT to ask. Further, that's only good until the University closes at 7pm. Once that happens, I'm back to my original predicament: I can't work in the library, and because I don't have a laptop, I can't work at home. Now are you starting to understand my justification?

Computing is a difficult degree and we're expected to put in a lot of out-of-hours work. If I had a laptop that would even things up: I could work during free periods (I have 5 hours between lectures on a Friday) in the common room when everybody else can use our PC labs or the library PCs, and I can work at home until whatever hour I like when everybody else is able to use the 24/7 library.

Realistically, I need a laptop. My depression causes severe insomnia which means sometimes I don't make it to morning lectures, and when I do, my head is fuzzy and I can't concentrate. Having a laptop would mean I could access our online lecture notes and catch up. And before you say, "well, your University could give you a room during the day, and DSA could give you a cheap desktop for use at home", you'd be wrong: http://store.apple.com/Apple/WebObjects/ukstore Apple's cheapest MacBook is cheaper than their cheapest iMac.

I'm lucky at the moment in that my housemate has finished his coursework and I can borrow his laptop. He leaves next year, so I really need one of my own.

I'm not taking advantage of my condition to get money. I made it clear that my primary aim is to get the equipment (i.e. laptop) that I need. If I get that, then I'll be happy. If they pay money directly to me and I have some left over, then I'll be happier. I'll pay it all back in taxes one day.

dmg24

I'm sorry, you are putting barriers in your way that don't exist.

I would love to know of any university that cannot find you a spare room. That is absolute rubbish!

If a non disabled student wants to study from home, how do they manage? They buy their own laptop or PC. That makes you no different from them.

Asda have had a guaranteed interview scheme for years, so I can only assume that you did not meet their minimum standards. For this reason, I would ask for help in filling in application forms.

Yet again you talk about keeping the money if you have any leftover. If that is your attitude, then I don't think that they should give you a penny. It is people like you that give people with MH problems a bad name, so making it more difficult for others to claim.

duchy

dmg24 wrote: »

I would love to know of any university that cannot find you a spare room. That is absolute rubbish!

Certainly is NOT rubbish at the two universities I studied at. Obviously you have personal experience of this that is the polar opposite of mine. Would you care to share which specific institutions you are referring to ?

dmg24

duchy wrote: »

Certainly is NOT rubbish at the two universities I studied at. Obviously you have personal experience of this that is the polar opposite of mine. Would you care to share which specific institutions you are referring to ?

Nottingham University and Nottingham Trent University, both campuses for each.

mikescott86

The purpose of the DSA is, according to Wikipedia:

to help toward meeting the additional studying costs or expenses that students face as a direct result of a disability or specific learning difficulty. They are intended to help disabled students study on an equal basis with other students.

I have the option, like every other student, to use the library facilities provided by my University for free, 24/7. However, due to the nature of my disability, using these facilities is difficult and embarrassing. I am petitioning the DSA to provide me with a laptop so that I can study at home (i.e. provide me with the ability to do the same amount of hours work as a non-disabled student), and that is precisely what the DSA is for. If you view the case study I linked to, you'll see that. There are others like it on the Internet and Google will kindly take you to them. I'm not milking my condition to get money and I'm certainly not giving people with mental health problems a bad name. Yes, non-disabled students can buy their own laptop (finances permitting). However, non-disabled students can use the library facilities: I can't. I need to re-iterate this point: this is what the DSA is for - to remove any disadvantages suffered by disabled people.

All I said was if they gave me money directly and if I had money left over from buying what I needed, then it wouldn't be the end of the world as I'd use that to buy some nice food for a change. Baked beans get boring. I'm not trying to get thousands of pounds to waste on frivolous activities like getting drunk, or extravagant things like eating out. I'm just trying to get an equal footing and, once again, that's what the DSA is there for.

Me keeping money for food does not make it more difficult for other people to claim. The LEAs almost always do what the assessors recommend - there is rarely any argument.

I'm not sure you realise how much it really is to ask a university to set aside a room, just for me, that I can use whenever I like. What if they had to do that for every person who applied for DSA that couldn't use public facilities? People, with, for example, severe anxiety, or obsessive-compulsive disorder. Pretty quickly you'd be asking the University to set aside a whole building, and that's selfish and impractical. It's much easier just to give somebody a £600 laptop. The funding is there, and most people with a diagnosis, like myself, have just cause for receiving that. I'm sorry you're so bitter and jealous about that. What you have said is insulting to everybody who has claimed DSA on mental health grounds as you are trivialising things that are very real to them.

Finally, I don't see how I could fail to meet minimum standards at ASDA. I have ten good GCSEs, 4 A levels, an AS level, and I have previous work experience working in the IT department at my old school. I've demonstrated in my posts that I have a fairly decent grasp of our language, and my handwriting is neat enough that anybody could understand it.

dmg24

I am speaking from personal experience mikescott86, in pretty much the same circumstances as you. I bought my own laptop because I thought it was a downright cheek to expect one to be bought for me. I'm not bitter, I just think that you need to take some responsibility for yourself (taking more responsibility will probably have a positive effect on your condition also). You certainly will not be treated so generously at work.

Yet again you refer to keeping any additional money for yourself. Get some backbone !!!!!!.

mikescott86

Well, rejecting help from the DSA because of how you feel about it is entirely your prerogative. You don't know that your circumstances are the same as mine - there's more going on with me than I care to share in a public forum. You know nothing about me, and nothing about the life I've had. I'm insulted that you'd be so audacious as to even presume to know anything about what I've been through and am going through.

My thoughts on the DSA are this: when I graduate with a first, and I will, I'll eventually find myself in a high paying job, paying 40% tax which in my first year will more than make up for the several hundred pounds that the government will spend on me to get a laptop and a few other bits of equipment. In fact, it's completely logical for the government to do this, and completely illogical for me to not accept the offer: spend a few hundred pounds, and, in three to four years, you'll have a highly-skilled, highly-productive, and highly-contributive member of society that will pay back what you have given them a thousand fold. Alternatively, don't help them out and they'll probably quit University and be so depressed about the opportunity that they lost that they'll be on disability benefits for the rest of their life and will cost a LOT more than the few hundred pounds.

Don't you see that the system makes sense?

If I had a job, or if I could get a job, I'd buy myself a laptop. I am trying to get work and I hope that eventually I will. In the meantime, I need a laptop.

Don't you dare speak to me about !!!!ing backbone. I've lived with this and a lot more for the last ten years with little support from anybody else - not even my parents. I've got myself through several suicide attempts. Despite all that I got myself through school, college, and ended up at a pretty decent university. My doctor has told me that everything medically possible has been tried and that I'm on my own and will just have to live with it. I still get up and try every day. I'm never going to stop trying. If that's not backbone, what the !!!! is? All I'm asking for is a little bit of help to bring me down to the level of my peers. The government is offering that and there's nothing wrong with it.

If you really were speaking from personal experience, I think you would be a bit more understanding. People like you, with archaic attitudes like yours, make the lives of people with mental health difficulties harder than they would need to be.