Wednesday, 26 October 2016

Being prevented from studying by reason of impairment

LI started a Masters course in September, a mere 2 weeks after my successful appeal of PIP. As you can imagine im not really fully functional and using this course as a recovery tool.
I would also like to say what an amazingly accessible course it is. Public transport is door to door and i have 3 hours of contact time a week, the Rest is self directed study which gives me unlimited flexibility to chose how and when i study.
That being said i still need extra adjustments because of the effects of my impairment and the incompatible nature of university life.
With that in mind i applied for disabled student allowance. I have been on this since 2007, again a reflection of how long it took me to get through undergraduate level study (i graduated in 2013).
Thanks to the changes at student finance to disabled students allowance this last year they will no longer fund a new needs assessment and state that my one from 2008 still stands and i should use the equipment from then.
Back then i was doing a full time undergraduate degree in photography, complete with mac and Photoshop recommended. I think that needs assessment in 2008 swapped my needs over onto a new course, the one i graduated from (education and disability studies). It was (in the main) full time. I was single at the time and living a big distance from uni. I think i got a computer running xp and associated assistive software. I think i upgraded sometime in 2011 to my current computer, but couldnt get the software to work (and failed to get it through dsa i think)
Fast forward to 2016. I am married now and have a child, and this is relevant. Im living closer to uni now and we have a car.
Because of my child and intersected with my impairment i can study for 2 hours a day. It is vital that i use this time as best i can.
Dsa have said i can continue to use my 2007 Dictaphone and the computers i no longer have, and the software that isn't compatible. Not only that i have 34 hours of mentor support. I need 52 weeks because that's the length of my course and over summer when theres no classes is when im going to really need it.
They have said that i can have a "review" of my needs, but that's not the same. As the social model of disability theory goes, i am differently disabled depending on the environment i access. This environment is completely different to under graduate level.
For the last two years i had the same battle for a dsa suitable for my needs. Unfortunately, due to the lack of support I had to quit that course before I could qualify and finish. But that was due to bot being allowed to be ill as a result of my PIP experience, so i think that was a bigger factor.
I wonder what this review will consist of and if when they send the report to dsa, they will actually take it into consideration?
Time will tell.

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