Disability & Neurodiversity Support
Advice and support for disabled and neurodivergent students
Hello from the Disability and Neurodiversity Support (DANS) team at Aston University.
We are here for every student who requests support at Aston due to:
* Sensory or physical impairments
* Visual impairments
* Long term health conditions
* Mental health conditions
* Specific Learning Differences (SpLDs such as dyslexia, dyspraxia or dyscalculia
* ADHD
* Autism.
We know that around 10 per cent of our students have a disability – and we want to remove any barriers you have in your learning. We also know many students who don’t identify as being disabled but who are still entitled to support.
Please see our FAQs to learn about what we can and cannot help with.
Sharing your disability or long term health condition with us
Sharing or 'declaring' a disability or neurodiversity means giving us details about the effects it has on your day-to-day life. We will work with you to put in place the support you need to succeed in your studies.
We will treat your information confidentially, and separately from your academic application. We will NOT contact your academic department without your permission.
You do not have to share your disability, but doing so gives you the best chance of securing the full support you are entitled to.
Do contact us as early as you can, so we can start supporting you now.
Aston University is signed up to the Disabled Student Commitment, a voluntary initiative designed to improve the experiences and outcomes of disabled students in higher education.
How do I share information about my disability or long term health condition?
Complete the relevant form and send us your supporting evidence as soon as possible:
Academic skills and study support for neurodiverse and disabled students
Whether you are signed up with our DANS team or not, you can make an appointment with Learning Development Advisor Helen Davies:
Contact the Disability and Neurodiversity Support (DANS) team
You can initially email us at AskUs@aston.ac.uk. Someone will respond to you via Aston's Solve system so we can resolve your query as efficiently as we can.
Support Recommendations
Once we have suitable documentation, we will create a list of appropriate teaching, learning, and assessment support recommendations (if required). Our aim is to have these support recommendations in place by the first teaching week of your new course of study, or as soon as possible once you have contacted us. Some examples of support we can recommend include:
- Alternative exam arrangements such as additional time in formal exams and class tests, rest breaks, adapted papers e.g. enlarged font, and a reader/scribe
- Reasonable adjustments in lectures e.g. consent to record lectures, accessible teaching rooms, hand-outs and lecture slide presentations in advance of lectures
- Access to assistive technology available such as TextHelp Read and Write. Further free assistive technology is available
- Extended library loans
- Tutorials to devise study techniques that are compatible with your way of working
- The combination of these and others will depend on the nature of your condition and how it affects your studies.
Support recommendations and any updates will be forwarded to your course and can be updated or amended at any point in your course.
Personal Care
The University does not provide support or funding for Personal Care or medical treatment (including medication, medical supplies or mobility equipment) because these things would be required even if you were not a student. Any travel costs to receive medical treatment are also your responsibility.
If you need any non-academic support with daily living tasks such as personal care, shopping, cooking and laundry you will need to access this support independently.
If you require on-going personal assistance, we expect you to employ a care assistant, and you would need to pay for this yourself or other funding means. Charges will vary depending on the type of support that may be required, and arrangements would need to be confirmed well in advance of you arriving at university. We can advise on potential local sources of personal care support if necessary, although we do not recommend any specific agency and accept no liability as regards all aspects of support provided by care providers.
Wheelchairs can be rented from a local mobility hire provider if needed.
We are happy to talk to you about financial assistance towards academic and non-academic disability-related costs, although please be aware that any alternative sources of funding are likely to be limited and need to be applied for well in advance of your arrival.
We also have a document for Information for Visiting Personal Care Assistants.
Information for parents, guardians and carers
We recognise how important caregiver support can be for students at university and that some students may wish for their caregivers to be able to contact us and be kept informed of support during their transition to university. We may be able to discuss applicant queries with caregivers, with consent. Any communication with current students will be directly with the student. In line with the university privacy policy and obligations under GDPR, we cannot share student information.
Students with daily living skills usually find the transition to university smoother and less stressful. They are generally more able to manage the other aspects of University life. It is strongly recommended that the student is able to arrange their own daily living tasks, including personal care, shopping, cooking, laundry and good sleeping patterns, as we do not provide this service.
Financial Support
- Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA)
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Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA) is a non-means-tested and non-repayable source of funding available to Home students, intended to help meet the extra disability-related costs incurred while studying at University. This fund can help to pay for additional support such as study skills tuition, mentoring support, and software and equipment support. The fund pays for the support directly and so you do not get any additional money directly.
The support you receive from the University is in many ways independent of the support you receive through DSA, and if you choose not to apply for DSA you can still receive support from the University. However, certain types of support are likely to be unavailable without the appropriate funding in place. More information can be found on the UCAS website or by contacting us. We also have a Frequently Asked Questions page for DSA.
- Aston Support Fund (£200 DSA laptop student contribution grant)
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If you are a full time enrolled Undergraduate student, and your DSA confirmation of funding letter includes the purchase of a laptop, you may be awarded a one-off £200 grant to cover your contribution towards the cost of the laptop. Please contact us for more information regarding eligibility.
- Erasmus
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There is an additional support fund available for disabled students who are on the Erasmus+ programme at Aston. For further information please contact erasmus@aston.ac.uk
- International Students
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International and EU students are not normally eligible for the same financial support as UK-resident students and we strongly advise that you ensure appropriate funding is in place before you arrive at university.
Aston University will make every effort to help you find ways of paying for any support you need, but you or your sponsors may be asked to pay for resources or equipment such as personal care, study support workers, sign language interpreters, equipment or extensive brailing. You should contact us as early as possible for advice.
Policies and procedures
The following policies and guidance documents detail relevant processes and procedures for students. We also have relevant processes for our staff and visitors, supporting students with disabilities and other learning supports needs.
Contact us
- Get in touch
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By phone: 0121 204 4007
By email: AskUs@aston.ac.uk
- Emergency contacts
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If you are on Campus, contact Security on 0121 359 2922 from an external telephone (2222 on an internal phone), who will contact the Emergency Services for you.
If you’re off-campus, dial 999 for emergency services.
The closest Accident and Emergency Centre to Campus is Birmingham City Hospital, Dudley Road, B18 7QH.
The closest NHS Walk in Centre is Halcyon Medical, Unit 8, 24 Martineau Place, Birmingham B2 4UH, and open:
- 8am-6:30pm - Monday to Friday
- 10am-2pm - Saturday
- 11am-2pm - Sunday