Disabled Student Allowence

[shen]

hey thanks ES

I have difficulties carrying heavy stuff, we found a nice toshiba laptop thats less than 1kg with 2gb ram 160gb hdd, ok videocard 11.1" screen, duo core processor. I cannot write for more than a minute or two without getting servere pain in my wrists. so a portable laptop would be ideal and this is the lightest i've found with such specifictations its around £1000 though. I have problems with my eyes so a screen smaller than this would cause problems for my eyes too. otherwise ther was a nice HP for just £400. i'm quite well versed with computers and know whats good and whats not, i'm just concrened about looking like i'm out for what i can get which really isnt the case. I use a laptop all the time at home so im used to the ergonomic aspects of laptops, unfortunatly mine is almost 4kg and far too heavy to carry around.

[elliemonster]

i am in the process of applying for university. my head was somewhere else last year during my 2nd & final year of college and i was stressing out over exams and the time it was taking me to fill out my ucas form was better spent on exams after all the stress i went through with it - trying to get help and no one ever being there to help and go through it with me etc. etc. but today I went into college and one of the student support advisor's went through everything with me and explained all the financial codes etc. really well and even helped me to fill out some of the form. I want to look into getting DSA allowance especially for travel and equipment costs as it really cripples me to write for longer than 5mins which made college hell as despite all their promises to supply me with a laptop during lessons most of the time i only got them in english when my teachers helped me make the arrangements themselves! I was able to use a laptop for all my exams however which was a godsend even though my hands still ached and spasm'ed for the entire evening after an exam and meant I found it hard to use my own computer for revision notes (I remember things by re-typing them & going through them which is extremely hard when my hands are so sore). is it relatively easy/simple to fill out the forms or will I need help for that too? walking for prolonged periods (even to the shop) hurts a lot, but I do horse-ride, muck out and tackle the poo ramp (which is very painful) which makes me wary about applying for DLA as they would say I can do a lot when really it still hurts but the benefits and the enjoyment I get out of being with Alfie outweighs the pain in many aspects.

[shen]

I've got my DSA assessment on monday at 11:00, my mums coming with me, is there anything i should take with me? The company they use have had a few people through their doors with HMS so they do know about it. I spoke with the Disabled Student Advisor and she told me the limits they will pay upto, and its rather high, for equipment its something like £5000, so i asked about the toshiba laptop and she said that it will probably be quite fine to ask for this. tuesday i managed to dislocate my wrist whilst taking notes, it was rather not fun.

[sanguine_emma]

Hello Students!

I've just started a part-time MSc at Westminster on day release from work. To begin with I didn't realise I could get DSA (being a part timer and all) but my disability advisor told me a I could. It's been 10 years since I last studied, and back then I didn't know I was disabled (just thought I was a bit accident/injury prone!). I've got my needs assessment coming up on 11th December. As I've already started my course, I've got a fair idea about the difficulties I'm having! I'm hoping to get a very light weight laptop and some voice recognition software because working all day and then coming home and typing all evening/all weekend managed to completely knacker my hands in less than a week! As I only have a desktop, at the moment I'm trying to squeeze all my work into a very short space of time when I'm at home, which is hopeless for pacing. I'd like to be able to work on the train on my way to lectures in london, and do some work while I'm there to maximise the time I have, and when I've got essays to write I'd like to stop relying so much on my poor swollen hands. It looks like they're geared up towards getting people laptops and software, so I'm hopeful about this. A new chair for home would be lovely too, The one I'm sitting on dates from my previous student days! Like the rest of you, I have to travel by taxi, so money towards that would be a great help too. My final request is really important, but I'm just not sure DSA is geared towards this sort of thing. I have an NHS bog-standard tubular steel wheelchair, which has been fine until now because it lived at work where I needed it most, and I didn't have to lug it anywhere. After my first disastrous attempt at Uni in London on crutches, I quickly discovered that the only way to manage a whole day at uni was to take my wheels. The trouble is, my old one is over 18kg and, needless to say, I just about expire every time I have to get it in or out of the car and have so far dislocated my shoulder once, my wrist every time and a rib once... My question is, will DSA fund a lighter wheelchair for me? When I say lighter, I mean carbon fibre 12 kg £1000 light, as opposed to aluminium 15 kg £300 light, because I don't think I can manage 15 kg very much more easily than I can manage 18 kg!

Insights/experiences welcome!
Emma

[Tiz]

The DSA may well fund a lighter wheelchair for you, basically it can pay for anything you need to continue your studies, if you need the wheelchair for getting to Uni, which you clearly do, then it should be covered. I got my backfriend on DSA because I drive 40 miles each way to get to Uni and I was in agony by the time I got there every day.

I work from home a lot of the time so most of the stuff I've had has been equipment for my home office, to give you an idea here's a list of everything I've had: back friend; ergonomic keyboard and mouse; wrist rests for both; flat screen monitor; ergonomic chair (it's really comfy!); posture blocks (things to raise the monitor up so that it's the right height); printer; voice activated software (never actually used it because it's just not that practical for maths); headphones with microphone to go with the voice activated software; electric desk (it goes up and down so you can work standing up if you want to, unfortunately I've not had a chance to use it yet because it arrived just before we became homeless so it had to go straight into storage, I'm really looking forward to getting it set up); £200 book allowance per year; photocopying allowance (I think it might be about £80 per year but I get free photocopying as a postgrad anyway so I don't use it); I also had a scribe to take lecture notes for me when I was an undergraduate. The University has to provide anything you need to be able to complete your course so they supplied people to write my exams for me as an undergrad (dictating maths is quite a strange business) and another keyboard, mouse, and wrist rests for my desk at uni as a postgrad.

The important thing to remember is that you are entitled to this help, there's nothing they can give you that can directly solve your problems, at first I felt guilty using my 15 minute break in exams that I was entitled to to go outside and have a cigarette, I know my friends would have killed for a cigarette to help calm them down in the middle of the exam, but then I came to the conclusion that no ammount of cigarettes could ever make up for the fact that I was having to dictate my exam answers to someone else rather than write them myself, you lose a little somewhere so you gain a little somewhere else, it sort of balances out.

[Retro]

Hi Emma,

Would it be possible to maybe keep a wheelchair at uni? Then you wouldn't have to lug it in and out of the car and then the other one can stay at work I'm sure the janitors or someone would be able to organise something for you.

Lindsey

[sanguine_emma]

I travel to london on the train, and I need the chair for the journey (gigantic stations, packed commuter trains, taxi ranks etc) because that's at least half of what kills me on my uni day. The lifting I have to do is getting the chair from work (where it lives, because that's where I use it mostly) into my car at the end of the week, then out of my car at the station to start my journey to london on a monday. the ideal thing would be to leave my heavy one at work to use there tues-fri and have a light one at home to take out to uni. It would make the world of difference to me.

I've worked out that the lightest one I can get will cost around £1250 by the time you've added all the stuff I need. I'm less afraid they'll tell me it's too extravagant now I've heard your comprehensive list of things, Tiz! I'll forgo the electric desk (though they have them at uni and they are waaay cool) if they'll give me a wheelchair!
Emma x

[Retro]

Sorry forgot that you're somewhere commutable something that for all it's good points and beauty, the Highlands just isn't!

Lindsey

[Es*]

Just wanted to say that thats not an excessive amount of money. I managed to get over ten thousand for a power chair from my travel DSA allowence. It was a pretty unusual set of circumstances I had, but once justified, I didn't have any difficulty. They dont usually do mobility equipment ... so make sure you have a good 'why I need this for study but wouldnt need it if I wasnt a student' bit planned. It comes down to your assessor - mine was enthusiastic about putting together an unusual report for me ... hope yours is too. Es x

[shen]

i just got my final report back today, they are giving me
Mac Book Air inc superdrive
Canon mp540 all in one printer
Digital Voice Recorder
Bookchair
Posturite Lap desk
Notebook roller
Apple Laptop support pack
All the software i need
£200 book allowance
£100 photocopying allowance
£50 consumables allowance
£180 towards internet costs
and uptop £3264 for taxis if and when i need them.

any idea how long after the final assessment does this sstart to arrive?

[Eloise]

I have been with the OU for years now and never been able to get DSA as you had to be studying 60credits or more. But......

From this year you can claim DSA if you are doing 30 credits or more in the one year

So, this now opens it up for most people, as unless you have nothing else to do, fitting in 60 credits was impossible, so most do 30 credits each year (or 40 if doing the summer school).

Now I have a dilema - do I apply??? For years I have managed OK. I don't even know what I could ask for with the money. I already have my computer - you think they would buy me a silly mouse? I already have a car so I don't need transport to tutorials. So I am really struggling what I would need it for. But half of me is tempted just to apply out of principle, to get HMS on the radar and money out of the goverment.

But for all the other OU people - just thought I would let you know as you all may want to apply!

[sanguine_emma]

Hello Eloise

YES! Apply. One thing I've learned is that if someone offers to help you, you just don't say no! I haven't had my assessment yet, so I'm not sure what I'll end up with, but I'm hoping that I can get some things that will help to make managing HMS and study easier. When my disability officer first told me about DSA, I was a bit equivocal, just like you. After all, it's not like I don't have a computer etc, and I can generally move and type and stuff. But having established that university is much more manageable on wheels, I hatched this plan of trying to get a lightweight wheelchair. But when I read through the other stuff that HMSers have got it suddenly occurred to me - my chair isn't great and it's about 13 years old. A comfy one would make work a lot easier. And then there's the RSI from typing my essays - I hear voice recognition software is quite good these days, it's got to be worth a go, and it would be good to have (as you so aptly put it) a silly mouse. And then there's the fact that my computer's an ancient old desktop, which means everything takes longer than it should do, and I can only work while I'm at home (not great for pacing), and only when I'm at my desk squashed into the corner of my bedroom (not great for ergonomics). A laptop probably would be handy. And apart from anything else, it will be good to talk to someone who has experience of all the latest equipment designed to make working with a disability easier. There's bound to be some stuff out there that I haven't even heard of! If you can face gathering the evidence of your disability and explaining yourself and your disability to an assessor, you should definitely give it a go. HTH!

Lots of love
Emma x

[sanguine_emma]

Hi all

Just thought I'd post a quick update. I had my assessment before christmas. It was very detailed and quite hard work. However, the assessor and I rapidy got to business in deciding a course of action. What I need more than anything is a lighter wheelchair, but the assesor explained to me that wheelchairs are not covered by DSA except in exceptional circumstances. I explained my circumstances and my assessor agreed that a wheelchair would be a great help, and told me she would recommend it for me, but warned me not to get my hopes up too high. We went on to discuss other things that might help. A couple of weeks later I got my letter from Oxfordshire LEA approving everything lock stock an barrel. So I have been given the following:

Kuscall compact lightweight wheelchair (can't wait to get it, it is a thing of beauty, let me tell you)
Advanced Seating design bespoke chair, made to measure and with specialist pressure relieving cushions
Electric adjustable desk
Lightweight laptop, bag, stand and all sorts of ergonomic stuff to go with it
Ergonomic left handed mouse
Dragon naturally speaking voice recognition software with specialist medical dictionary, microphone etc
digital voice recorder for lectures and for making my own notes (can then be uplaoded onto computer and translated to text by dragon!)
£150 per year for books
Money for photocopying
Money for taxis
petrol money

I'm gobsmaked. I can't wait to get it all now! It should be here in a week or two, with the exception of the wheelchair and desk chair which take a bit longer as they are being made for me

Hope everyone is well in student land. I have a horrific term work wise. I decided to try to write an essay this weekend, but I have got an awful neck today so I'm all incapable. Hopefully when I get dragon, i'll be able to carry on even on bad days.
Emma x

[barkingmad]

HI Emma,

Just wanted to say that I am really pleased for you. You totally deserve it!

[mindsquatter]

Hi Emma
That sounds like a great result - well done you!
Just one thing though - the dictaphone will not enable you to put lectures straight through dragon - you still have to dictate it, or all of your lecturers have to sit and train dragon for you!
Just reread your post, and I'm not sure if you realised this or not (bit of brain fog going on) so apols if I'm telling you something you know!
Michelle