Disabled students
Disabled students may be eligible for extra support. This page includes details of where you can find support, and explains the Office for Students' role in supporting disabled students.
Ways to get support
- If you’re a student with a long-term illness, disability or a mental health issue, you can apply for Disabled Students' Allowances (DSAs). You won’t need to repay DSAs and you can get them on top of any other student finance you receive.
- You may also be able to access other support from your higher education provider. Contact them directly to find out what’s available.
What you can expect from the Office for Students
The OfS has an important role in ensuring that every student, whatever their background, is supported to access, succeed in, and progress from higher education.
The OfS is committed to supporting an inclusive experience of higher education for disabled students.
A major tool the OfS uses to support and challenge the higher education sector to improve equality of opportunity is access and participation plans. These are agreements that set out how universities and colleges will improve equality of opportunity for disadvantaged groups to access, succeed in and progress from higher education.
Our Equality of Opportunity Risk Register identifies disabled students as one of the characteristics of students that are most likely to indicate risks to equality of opportunity. Higher education providers should consider the risks to equality of opportunity for disabled students and develop ways to reduce the risk, as part of their access and participation plans.
Useful resources
The following resources on supporting disabled students are also available:
- The Disabled Students' Commission(DSC) publications and guidance for the higher education sector.
- Disabled Students Allowance: provides help if you're a student with a learning difficulty, health problem or disability.
- The Disabled Student Commitment was launched by the Disabled Students' Commission to secure an enhanced and improved experience for disabled students within higher education. Read the full report.
- Disabled Students UK is a community research organisation ran by current and formed disabled students. They have published The Access Insights 2023 Report.
- Our briefings and case studies:
- Beyond the bare minimum: Are universities and colleges doing enough for disabled students?
- Coronavirus briefing note: Disabled students
- Our work on equality and diversity and how this relates to disabled students
- information on student mental health support.
- UCAS, 2022: 'Next Steps: What is the experience of disabled students in education?'
This report analyses the student journey and makes recommendations for supporting access and progression.
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