It’s been a while! When I last blogged I was working in a school as a Learning Support Assistant, with the aim of progressing to a career in educational psychology. I’m now working full time as a Data Coordinator Apprentice for the NHS. A slight change, I know! Over time I’ve realised that although I love the academic side to studying Psychology and education, it’s not the career for me. I’m really enjoying my current role though and it’s so much better suited for me.
I also very recently had my graduation for my Master’s degree. It was delayed due to the pandemic but I finally graduated last week, two and a half years after finishing my Master’s! I studied at UCL for my Master’s and Anglia Ruskin for my undergraduate degree, which leads me to the topic of this post – choosing a university when you have a disability. Choosing a university is a big decision for anyone. When you have a disability, though, there are even more things to consider.
It was around this time seven years ago now (I can’t believe it’s been seven years!) when I was in the process of deciding which universities to apply for. So I thought I would reflect on some of my own experiences and write a guide to choosing a university when you have a disability. I can’t speak for everyone as there are many factors to take into account but hopefully some of these insights will be useful, and perhaps some of this may also be helpful for those who don’t have a disability!
Decide whether you want to live at home or at university
One of the first things to consider would be whether you want to live at home and commute or live at university. I chose to live at home and commute to university, due to the way my dyspraxia affects me. This is, of course, a very individual decision as many disabled people do live at uni, it’s not a one size fits all approach. What is important, though, is to do what’s right for you. I had people suggest that I could have gone to a ‘really good university’ instead or they made it sound as though I’d be ‘missing out’ in some way by living at home. In reality, living at home and commuting into university worked well for me and I really enjoyed my time at university. Commuting was actually quite a popular option and it certainly didn’t feel like I was missing out on anything.
If you do decide to live away from home, another option is to consider how far away from home you want to study/live. Some people prefer to stay nearby so they can visit home more easily, whilst others prefer to live further away for a complete change of scenery. Transport might also be something to consider in this, particularly if your disability makes accessing public transport more difficult in whatever way.
Which places run the course you wish to study?
Once you’ve decided on some rough locations of where you might like to study, it’s time to look at which universities run the course you wish to study – not every university runs every course!
For my undergraduate degree, I knew I wanted to study Psychology which is quite a popular course so fortunately there were lots of options available. For other courses, however, there may not be as many universities running it. When it came to my Master’s degree, I initially wanted to stay at Anglia Ruskin University to study a Master’s in Clinical Child Psychology. However, I then found out that UCL ran a Master’s which was more specific to what I wanted to go into at the time, the Psychology of Education. This is where I went on to study.
What campus style would you prefer?
Believe it or not, university campuses can differ quite a lot. Although I didn’t realise it at the time, Anglia Ruskin University is quite a small university campus. The university has campuses in different cities (Cambridge, Chelmsford and Peterborough) but the buildings in Cambridge were all quite close together. Whereas at UCL, the buildings were more spread out. For example, the Institute of Education, where the majority of my course was held, was about a five minute walk from the main campus.
There are both positives and negatives to each. I do quite a lot of walking, so fatigue isn’t really an issue for me in terms of walking around a campus (it affects me in other aspects though) but for some people that may be something to consider. Some universities have a lot on one campus (even shops and banks!) which may be easier for some people, particularly those living at university.
Something that is a big thing for me though when it comes to navigating and getting around is sense of direction! Dyspraxia means my sense of direction is terrible. In hindsight, studying at a smaller university to begin with was probably really useful in terms of this. Inevitably there’s going to be the occasional time where you have a seminar in a room you’ve never been to before and do get a bit lost! However, I found that at Anglia Ruskin there was a lot more consistency with the rooms they used so it became fairly easy to find your way around. UCL, on the other hand, sometimes scheduled lectures in the hotel across the road!
Something else to consider is what the size of the university is in terms of people. Smaller universities mean it can be much easier to find somewhere to sit in cafes, libraries etc. And when you have a disability and are attempting to carry lots of things, sometimes you just need to find somewhere easy to sit!
Other factors to consider
If you’re commuting to university or even if you’re living away from home and want to be able to travel back easily, public transport is something to consider. Both Anglia Ruskin and UCL were about a 15 – 20 minute walk from the train station and the train was a direct line from the town I live in, so that wasn’t an issue. UCL did have the added bonus of being near a tube station though, so that was always another option!
You also might want to consider the bigger picture of the area. For commuting this can be a nice bonus, whereas if you’re living there it’s probably going to be an even bigger factor. Anglia Ruskin was very close to the shopping centre, which was great, and there were lots of places to eat nearby too. There were even more options at UCL though, being in central London! It meant I could go and do things in London before or after lectures if I wanted – and those of you who know me personally will know that I love London!
The time of lectures is also something to think about. At UCL the majority of lectures for my course were in the evening. I think this was aimed to increase flexibility for those who were working alongside their study (not something I could manage!). This was good in that it gave me extra time during the day but I don’t think my concentration was always at its best by the time it got to the evening! I definitely preferred having lectures in the day.
I’ve got this far into my post about studying at university when you have a disability and I haven’t mentioned disability support yet. There is some reasoning behind that. A lot of the support isn’t necessarily to do with the university itself (although that probably depends on what support you need) but is accessed through DSA, the Disabled Students’ Allowance. I would 100% recommend applying for the Disabled Students’ Allowance if you have a disability, are neurodivergent or have a mental health condition, even if you wouldn’t necessarily consider yourself to be disabled. It can be a bit of a process to apply, I won’t go into detail about my experience now but you can read all about that here. Don’t let that put you off though as the support you can get can help so much – whether that’s assistive software, a voice recorder or study support sessions.
I believe there have been some changes to DSA since I applied but I think you still have the option to have study support sessions online or in-person. I started off by having mine in-person at the university but then switched to Skype sessions with Diverse Learners. The flexibility of this suited me a lot better and Kerry’s support was amazing.
Exam arrangements are also often recommended through DSA. My exam arrangements were largely the same as I’d had in school – extra time, the use of a computer and rest breaks. The only difference was that my rest breaks were limited to 10 minutes per hour in contrast to school where I could take as long as I needed.
Other access arrangements can differ though between universities. My DSA report stated that I should be given flexibility/extensions for deadlines if needed. However, at Anglia Ruskin when it came to applying for an extension I was told that I wouldn’t be able to. I can’t remember the exact reasoning but it was to do with the fact that I already received study support so this should mitigate the effects of my disability on studying. If only it was as simple as that! As amazing as the study support was, it didn’t mean I could magically make my brain process information more quickly and get rid of fatigue and concentration difficulties altogether. In contrast, UCL allowed me to apply for extensions for any of my assignments – knowing I had that extra time if I needed it was really helpful.
Overall
There are so many things to take into account when choosing a university, it’s not an easy decision! I would thoroughly recommend going to an open day, they really help you to get a feel of what the university is like. You can spend time looking at university tables and rankings ( I know I did) which can help to some extent, but ultimately only you know what university is right for you. For those of you reading this who are already at university, Chloe’s blog offers some great advice on how to manage university as a disabled student.
Lastly, I should mention that university isn’t the only option. I feel that a lot of emphasis is placed on going to university. Personally, I’m glad I did as I had a positive experience there and met some great people. Even though I’m not working in the subject area I studied, without studying Psychology I wouldn’t have realised I enjoy working with data and gone on to what I’m doing now. That said, as someone who is completing an apprenticeship I really don’t think they’re talked about enough. There are so many different types of apprenticeships you can study and they’re not just for people when they leave school – you can do an apprenticeship at any age. You still get the study aspect, where you’re learning new things and completing assignments, but you get to do it alongside a job. This means that you can immediately put into practice what you’ve learnt.
But for those of you who are looking at universities – do some research, speak to others, book some open days and enjoy!
Natalie 🙂
