Accessing disability support as a postgraduate research (PGR) student

Support available to all students

There is some misunderstanding that the Disability and Dyslexia Support Service (DDSS) service is for undergraduates and postgraduate taught students only. This is not true.

You can access disability support (student website) in the same way as any other student, and all of the information on the main DDSS pages (student website) is relevant to postgraduate research students.

Disabled Students' Allowance (DSA) funding

If you are a home student, you are more than likely eligible to apply for DSA funding.

This enables a detailed assessment of your needs, and depending on your funding status, an appropriate support package is funded via student finance or your funding body.

Learning Support Plan

Once you register with DDSS you will meet with a Disability Advisor. They will develop a Learning Support Plan (student website) tailored to both your disability needs and the PGR journey.

This is then shared with your department once you have given permission to share. 

Yellow Stickers

You may still be offered Yellow Stickers (student website). This means that assessors will be aware of your documented disability when reading all submitted work to your department.

Learning difficulty assessments

DDSS offers some specific learning difficulty assessments (student website). As a PGR student, you are entitled to enquire about these assessments.

Disability Liaison Officers

Your department has at least one allocated Disability Liaison Officer.

These are members of University staff based in your department who are a designated point of contact for disabled students.

You can access this member of staff as a PGR student whenever you feel you need disability support within your department.

Additional considerations for PGR students

Due to the distinct nature of being a research student and the relationship with the department and supervisors, there are some issues which are different or require a little more consideration for PGR students.

Research degrees

The nature of completing a research degree is very different to completing a taught course, and incredibly individual in nature.  

As such, you may not be able to state what support you think you need at the start of your course when setting up your package.  

It is important that you communicate with your Disability Advisor as and when something new arises.  

This could be something about your diagnosis, something about your course that you initially didn’t realise was expected of you, or that your disability would cause a barrier to this part of your research. 

Supervision

You have a very special relationship with your supervisor(s). It is key that you talk to them about your disability needs and support.

We understand that sometimes you may have concerns about doing this, and about the stigma connected to your disability. However, help and support are available.

If you are really struggling to talk to your supervisor and get the support you need, the Disability Liaison Officer or your Disability Advisor can support you with this.

Research topics

If the nature of your research is quite niche, there may be something you have to do that your Learning Support Plan has not covered.  

Discuss this with your Disability Advisor and Disability Liaison Officer. A reasonable adjustment may be possible. 

Additional tasks and responsibilities

Completing research can include lots of peripheral tasks such as conferences and teaching.

As these are not compulsory to your research they may not be covered explicitly in your support plan.  

However your department will be open to supporting you the best they can, and your Disability Advisor may be able to help you think about adjustments that are open to you.

Personal tutors

You will have a personal tutor on your course. It may be that, due to the nature of your research, you have not yet met them.

However, they are a key support person in your department to help you complete your degree and gain any support necessary.  

If you have not met them yet, we recommend you reach out to them as soon as possible.