Disabled Students Allowance or DSA is massively helpful for any and all disabilities, mental health issues, neurodivergencies, etc. It has helped me so much to help remove the barriers I had to study and do just as well as everyone else. I hope this guide helps explain DSA to you, what you can get from it and how to apply for it!
So what is the Disabled Students Allowance (DSA)?
Disabled students allowance is support/funding from the government to cover the ‘study-related’ costs that you may incur due to your disability. You do not need to pay back this allowance and it is separate from student finance. It is not based on income at all but rather based on individual needs.
What can you get from DSA?
The DSA funds support directly rather than you being given an amount of money to spend. This can include (but varies differently for each individual):
- Equipment e.g. a computer, a printer or software to help ease the difficulties of studying with a disability (Please note, if you need of a computer you have to pay at least £200 towards it and this can be more if you want a computer with higher specs or a MacBook for example)
- Non-medical helpers e.g. a BSL interpreter, a mental health mentor or someone to take notes for you
- Extra travel funding to be able to attend your course
- And some other additional study-related support
What did I get through DSA?
Personally, with having fibromyalgia and anxiety, I have issues with pain, fatigue, a lot of cognitive issues and other problems. So through DSA I was provided with:
- A computer – I did pay slightly more towards this as I wanted a higher spec PC but a higher portion of the cost was funded by DSA
- A Printer – I haven’t ended up using this a huge amount as most things needed are largely online now due to covid in past years. It has, however, been helpful at times for printing off some things I’ve needed like instructions for fieldwork, etc.
- Recording Software for recording pre-recorded and in-person lectures – This has probably been the most helpful piece of support I’ve been given. I struggle a lot to take notes in lectures and can never keep up so being able to record my lectures, split each bit of audio up into what slides they go with and being able to colour code it all (definitions, more important bits, etc.) has been extremely helpful
- Dictation Software for speech-to-text – This has also been really helpful for my studies. When my hands have been too painful to write or type, I have been able to just dictate my essays or notes. With my software, I’m also able to control most of my computer with just my voice which has also been very helpful at times.
- A mental health mentor – My mentor is there to help me mainly with time management, organisation and deadlines but also for times when I’m overwhelmed due to anxiety or generally struggling with keeping up with my studies due to pain I’m in or fatigue. They either help directly by talking through things with me or suggesting and coming up with ways to manage things better or show me exactly where to access help I need from the uni themselves.
- Note, although not directly through DSA, with having DSA in place, the university also directly gave me extra time for assessments, being able to negotiate absences due to pain, fatigue or any other issue and other helpful adjustments. You can get these adjustments without DSA but it does make the process a lot quicker having it.
How do you apply for DSA?
The application for DSA is quite long winded and takes quite a lot of filling in forms. However it is a hugely beneficial thing and I really recommend taking the time to do this. Here, below, is a guide to applying for DSA:
- When applying for student finance, they will ask if you have any disabilities, mental health issues, neurodivergencies, etc. Fill this out and once on the student finance login page you will have a to-do list. On this it asks if you want to apply for DSA.
- Fill out the DSA form you will be provided with and please note this is the stage you also have to submit proof of disability (doctors notes, etc.)
Once this form has been approved you will be emailed your DSA1 form that will prove you have been approved and also tell you how to then get a needs assessment and the centres located near you.- A needs assessment is a meeting (paid for by DSA so ignore the costs that show by each assessment centre) by which you will speak to a specially trained assessor who will discuss with you what problems you have and how they affect you in terms of studying/education. The assessor will then talk you through what support can be available to you, how it can help and whether you think it’s something that would be helpful or not.
- Note, this assessment is not like PIP or any other disability funding, you do not have to prove anything to the assessor, for once they are actually there to help you as much as possible rather than making you prove you actually have a disability.
- Once this assessment is over, the assessor will type up all of the recommendations and send this off to student finance. Once this is approved you will get your DSA2 form.
- On this form, on the second page, will be the contact information for your equipment supplier and/or non-medical helper (NMH). It will also provide information on what exactly you need to do/say when contacting them.
- Once this is sorted you will receive your equipment and/or NMH!
- Also email the disability team, attaching the DSA2 form, to organise an individual learning plan (ILP) which is your extra time, etc.
You can still apply for DSA on the student finance page even if you aren’t applying for a student finance loan but for more information on this check out the two links below.
The information in this post is from https://www.gov.uk/disabled-students-allowance-dsa, https://diversityandability.com/dsa-find-your-way/ and from my own experiences. If you wish to find out more, click the links to take you directly to the pages.
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