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The University of Southampton welcomes students with a wide range of disabilities and specific learning difficulties. We have a range of services and facilities to support your needs. We can also direct you to services which the University does not provide, but which may be available to you, providing funding can be identified. This section provides a brief outline of those services and of our policies, processes and procedures. More detailed current information is available from the Disability Service, the Learning Differences Centre or the Mentor Service. Alternatively, you may go to www.enable.soton.ac.uk or www.dyslexia.soton.ac.uk for a detailed overview of the services and support available.
The main aim of our support service is to provide you with an indication of the support already available on campus, and also to provide you with the information you need in order to obtain your own equipment and human support tailored to your individual needs. This will depend to some extent on the specific course you have chosen. We will try to facilitate your arrangements as far as possible and we will be honest with you where any difficulties arise (eg: in relation to physical access to some buildings).
We are seeking to improve access to courses and to our facilities. If you have any constructive comments they will be most welcome. We aim to involve students thoroughly both in planning for their individual support needs and in planning for improvements to the University. Hence student representatives are invited to join the University committees. We are also working with other Institutions, both within the Southern Higher Education Consortium and nationally, to develop agreed standards, policies, procedures and services for students with disabilities.
What does the University mean by "disability"?
As a result of government requirements regarding the collection of certain statistics, the definition of "disability" includes those people who have any of the following:
- physical disability;
- sensory impairment;
- mental health difficulties;
- chronic health conditions(e.g. asthma, epilepsy, diabetes);
- medical conditions which may cause pain or other symptoms which affect your studies;
- specific learning difficulties (e.g. dyslexia, dyspraxia).
- any other condition which has a significant effect on your ability to study.
However our support services aim to treat every person as an individual with needs which may differ from those of other people with a superficially similar disability: each person's needs are considered individually.
Will I be discriminated against because of my disability?
The University's Equal Opportunity policy has been in place since 1988. It indicates that no person will be discriminated against on any grounds which are not relevant to their academic ability, including disability. The University is keen to extend the provision for students with disabilities, and wider access for such students is a key objective within the University's current Strategic Plan.
One exception to this general rule is that a few professions (e.g. medicine and other health related professions such as Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy or Nursing) have national 'fitness to practice' guidelines concerning applications from students with disabilities. For example, the General Medical Council guidelines require that all medical practitioners must be able to perform "the Duties of a Doctor". Please contact the Admissions Tutor of the course which interests you or the respective Disability/Learning Differences/Mentor Service for further information about these guidelines.
If you have limited mobility, the campuses all have good general access including those housing the major services, but some specific buildings can be a problem . On rare occasions we may advise you, or you may discover during your prospective visit, that some of the facilities of the School to which you wish to apply are physically inaccessible. If this is the case, we would be honest with you about the difficulties and we would try to make adjustments (e.g. building ramps etc.) which would accommodate your access needs. However, because of problems relating to physical access, very occasionally we might need to recommend that you apply to an academic School / University with more suitable access.
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