Child starting University.

jennierobertson

I’m trying to find anyone who has a child who is a permanent wheelchair user who went off to university. My daughter is in the process of picking a university and is due to start in September. I need advice about how to go about social care, possibly living in halls and how others have found this process, thanks

Antonia_Alumni

Welcome to the community @jennierobertson thank you for sharing this with us.

Hopefully some of our member will be able to support you with this. You may find our page on the process for social care useful.

Please keep us updated or if have any questions, please let us know.

Adam_Alumni

Hi @Jennierobertson

Welcome to the community.

I have placed your post in the Ask a disabled student advisor

You will be able to ask any questions you need there, and hopefully pick up useful tips from fellow members.

I hope this helps and  I wish your child the best for their studies.

Beverley_Scope

Hi @jennierobertson,

I'm not sure if the following web sites will help, but they give advice on choosing universities with disabled access, a wheelchair users guide to university and also rights on funding for further education.

Hopefully it will give you a starting point on where to look.

https://university.which.co.uk/advice/choosing-a-course/disabled-student-university-access

https://news.motability.co.uk/inspiration/a-wheelchair-users-guide-to-attending-university/

https://www.disabilityrightsuk.org/funding-further-education-disabled-students

Good luck and I hope your daughter has a fantastic experience when she attends university.

Beverley

forgoodnesssake

My son is power chair and communication aid user (CP). he started at Newcastle uni in sept 2017 and has a range of support in place.  If personal care support etc is needed then that would normally come from the home area social services and/or NHS continuing health care (after an assessment)  Uni's will have adapted accommodation so look on their accommodation web page and then contact them asap and arrange to view more than one.  If your daughter will need overnight support then an additional room will need to be paid for (my son is in Uni accomm and the room next to his is the support worker room..rolling rota)  Social Services should pay for this but they don't all.  You may find that, depending on the uni, they will subsidise accommodation (in their halls) a bit for disabled students who need bigger or ensuite rooms or an extra carer room.  For any academic equipment needed then Disabled Students Allowance should be applied for at the same time as student finance.  DSA now provides no "human" support (note takers etc) except in very specific situations (like the need for BSL) and so the uni is expected to provide academic support staff.

The uni will have some sort of Student Wellbeing service which will include disabled student support and so you should also contact them asap to see how they can help.  Good luck!