Admissions Tutors (Oxbridge/RG) - Please be honest...

[RussellGroup]

How do you view applications from children with non-physical disabilities (eg Aspergers, Dyslexia, etc)?

We are concerned about our child at the moment, and think that they have a condition that is traditionally considered a disability but are worried that steps taken towards diagnosis will go on their record, and be viewed negatively by admissions tutors to university.

Do you select purely on academic ability?

When I was admissions tutor, at the Russell Group university i work at, yes, I did select on academic ability, coupled with personal statement and reference. Declared disabilities, physical or no, didn't come into it unless it was something we couldn't make a reasonable adjustment for and which would definitely obstruct their ability to do our course.
My university takes the Equality legislation very seriously and has a special Equality Unit to support students with physical disabilities, mental health difficulties, dyslexia and all sorts. We would get fired if we could be proved to discriminate. I would assume most other universities are the same.

Why don't you ring up the unis he/she is interested in and find out their attitude and their support facilities?

When I was at Oxford, in a very academic and ancient college, we had one student with very profound physical disabilities. IT was tricky accommodating him (they didn't in the 14 and 15 hundreds), but the college did. I would say there were a lot of Dyslexic and ASD students (and professors). It is better to be warned so adjustments can be made, but there was certainly no discrimination against.

With dyslexia for example it would infuriate a tutor less to know why a student can't spell than to be frustrated by their essays every week. When I think about people I knew, a lot seemed to have some Aspergers traits.

If they are bright enough and passionate enough then it shouldn't be a problem.

Thank you both for your comments.
It is a little early to be contacting specific institutions... a lot can change in the 5 years we have until they apply- I am just thinking ahead, and do not want to jeopardise their chances IYSWIM.

In general, surely official diagnosis of a particular problem brings eligibility for different kinds of support and is worth doing?

I'm not sure it will help them tbh. We are in the independent sector, and any SN/SEN are viewed infavourably I find.

I don't mean for a minute that we are actively avoiding help, but my child is certainly at the milder end of the spectrum of conditions, and has managed without extra input so far (well, lots of parental input, but I'm sure that's the case with many NT or not!)

Actually, getting a statement of your child's disability would help, not hinder. It is illegal to discriminate against people with disabilities, and in my experience of both Oxbridge and RG, admissions tutors are very accommodating and fully aware of their responsibilities under equalities legislation. There are loads of students with disabilities at university - you should not be worrying about this at all.

My sister has a mild non-physical disability caused by her stroke when she was 11. She is currently in her final year at a RG university and on course to get a very good degree. The university has been most helpful in accommodating her needs and she is doing just fine. It is true that she has had to work a little harder in some ways because of her problems but I think she was used to this, having had to do just the same throughout her secondary education. I'm not an admissions tutor, but just wanted to reassure you that it can definitely work out just fine.

And your parental input will be helping a lot - my mother did the same in terms of working out strategies for my sister to cope with her particular and slightly unusual problems. It has definitely paid dividends for my sister at university in that she is experienced at thinking up ways to get around the difficulties.

Sorry to be so non-specific but don't want sister to be remotely identifiable.

Oh BTW my neice has dyslexia and went to Oxford. She got a grant to buy a laptop etc.

I also have experience of a Russell Group university in the dark ages, and even then they supported dyslexic students and had a whole study support department.

I work at a RG university. Disabilities do not enter into the picture when making a decision about admissions. I imagine that in some cases, there might be insurmountable difficulties (perhaps a blind person wanting to study art history?). We have a number of students in our intake each year with dyslexia and dyspraxia and are well set-up to deal with their needs. If anything, getting a diagnosis before university will be an advantage since it will allow provision to be made and needs to be flagged up in advance, rather than running around trying to get a diagnosis and then arrange support during the first term of the course (which is overwhelming for many students, anyway). We also take dyslexia into account when marking assessment.

Yes, it's all on academic ability, but we do take into account special circumstances like disability and mental health in order to be as equality minded as possible, for example if someone has to have treatment around the time of their AL exams and slips a grade, that would be looked at sympathetically. It's generally a good idea to get diagnosed.

I work at a non-RG uni and we take disability into account when setting assessments (sometimes very simple things like providing acess to a spell-checker on computer-based exams) so it is a real advantage if students have been diagnosed

Interesting thread. We have wondered whether our ds' migraines should be mentioned in his applications. He has lost a lot of school time because of them and I would say his record would've been more stellar if he didn't suffer from them. However dh feels that any mention of 'weakness' might be unwise!

Thankyou all- really helpful to me.

Most academics are physically decrepit, so weakness really isn't an issue. we're not creating the Hitlerjugend here!!!!!

Good to hear, Boff.

(He's not that sporty, either...)

Actually I always cringe in admissions interviews when they start banging on about how brilliant they are at playing the French horn, raising money for Africa and rowing for the school. We don't want well-balanced people, we want proto academics to funnel into PhD courses in the future.

You need to have had money to do all that stuff, usually. Seen the price of a French horn, recently? Houses/schools near enough a river for rowing? Some people are just clever and quite hard-working.

That is one of the reasons I am a bit sniffy about it, MrsH. Smacks of Victorian ladies and their 'accomplishments' too.

I have a very good friend, dyslexic, who went to Cambridge (and now has 2 PhDs - total masochist!).

I saw Cambridge (a couple of years ago??) was advertising for an education officer whose sole duty would be to look after students with Aspergers - which does make you wonder just how many there are. Clearly not a disadvantage - quite the reverse.

I've never noticed anything to suggest this kind of issue is ..an issue.

Cambridge is a day centre for the terminally bright. Many, many colleagues and students have Aspergers. It's pretty difficult to tell jokes at the meal table sometimes. But it's incredibly tolerant and Aspies are often the first port of call when you have factual datasets that need attention, coding problems, classification issues and so on. The place woulnd't be the same without them.

Indeed BoffinMum

My odd job man has Asperger's. And also has a maths degree from Oxford. He is very adequately educated for putting shelves up straight .

BoffinMum - your comments on how extra-curriculas are often viewed by top UK Universities is why I'm thrilled I went to an Ivy League instead, and why I'll direct my DC there.

Surely young people who are well motivated enough to spend the time mastering a competitive sport or musical instrument as well as getting top notch academic grades show that they have a strong work ethic etc.., and are likely to succeed in life?

Is this way, I wonder, at the company I work for, we're really struggling to hire excellent candidates with D.Phil's/PhD's at the moment, and are having to consider opening a Boston office and shutting down to Oxford office?

Is this why not way

Checkmate - I do so agree with you. Universities shouldn't be recruiting just to fulfil their own research recruitment needs. Academia should be only one of many professional paths enjoyed by the graduates of top universities - and to succeed in the world beyond academia, all sorts of non-academic skills at a high level are a pre-requisite.