St Mary's aims to provide an inclusive environment for all students, including students with additional support requirements. Advice and support is available to short course students who have requirements as a result of a disability, mental health condition, specific learning difficulty (such as dyslexia), medical condition or temporary disability, such as injury.
You can begin this process even before you enrol, by declaring on your application form that you have a disability (if you feel you identify with one or more of the categories above). That way we will be informed that you may have additional requirements and will discuss this with you to see if you require any additional support for your course and/or a selection interview, if applicable.
To register with the Wellbeing Service (Disability & Dyslexia), you will need to provide suitable medical/diagnostic evidence which states a diagnosis of your disability. Ideally it should state if it is long term (lasting longer than 12 months or is likely to) and how it affects your ability to complete day-to-day activities. For dyslexia and other specific learning difficulties, we would need a report by a qualified professional.
Reasonable adjustments
Wellbeing & Disability Advisors will recommend reasonable adjustments to ensure that you are not disadvantaged as a result of your disability. The reasonable adjustments recommended are made on a case-by-case basis to meet the needs of the individual. If the short course you are taking is accredited by an external organisation, such as ITEC, we will be required to comply with their reasonable adjustment policy and process particularly relating to assessment. We can discuss this process and timescale with you as each organisation is different.
Examples of reasonable adjustments are:
- Exam concessions (extra time)
- Accessible and suitable rooms
- Lecture slides made available online in advance of lectures
Disclosure & confidentiality
Information regarding your disability is treated with strict confidentiality. We normally only share information with other professionals on a need to know basis and with your consent. You will be asked to sign a Disclosure & Confidentiality Agreement (DCA) which allows you to declare who you wish to give us consent to share information with e.g. Academic staff, Library, medical professionals etc. You can update your DCA form at any stage of your time at St. Mary’s University.
Campus accessibility
St Mary’s University works in collaboration with AccessAble, a national access information provider, which has completed a series of access guides for St Mary’s buildings and selected routes on campus.