Mentioning disability on personal statement?

[redskytwonight]

Should you mention a (physical) disability on a personal statement or steer clear? DD and I are unsure. Partly because she doesn't want to get "pity" offers (I've assured her I'm sure this is not a thing).

In theory we could leave to the school reference, but DD tends to hide her condition at school, so I suspect her tutor (person writing reference) won't necessarily understand how she is affected day to day.

Unless it's relevant to future plans (framed as a reason for interest in the specific degree or career) or shows an important character trait relevant to course/future study (eg: used experience to campaign or support others), then we were recommended not to include disabilities, even though it had impacted ds education. In the end he got 5 offers, so the advice was right for him.
Ticking the box for a disability is enough to trigger the university access arrangements people to contact you.

Do mention it. It is illegal to discriminate against anyone with a protected characteristic. It will also prompt Disability Services to contact and to start to get structures in place to support. The process can be very slow if you wait until Freshers' Week. It's particularly important to get everything in order if the student is doing labs, with glassware, chemicals, rocks etc. Knowing about a disability will prompt the department to assign the student to their most experienced tutor and the accommodation service to give them their first choice.

There was a post about this recently and I think the general consensus was that the personal statement is not the place for it, but it does come into the application at some stage. I have never done one and DD juts did his own application without any input from us but I'm guessing there must be a question re disability where it would be appropriate to mention it?

PS is for showcasing your passion and interest in the subject.

Unless it is directly related to the course it is not for the PS. She can speak to her school about highlighting in the reference the impact her disabilty has and how she has overcome it.

Have a look at the hundreds of example PS on TSR to see what kind of things they should include.

I thought the latest ucas template asked for such details. If it is relevant to the nature of the course or demonstrates resilience, for example, it may be worth including in ps.

UCAS asks questions about disability independent from the statement, unless the disability is a reason for the intended study just answering the dedicated questions will be enough to trigger the DAS at the unis.

No don't, be selected on your merit not your disability. Nobody needs to know any personal information other that what is relevant and requested on the form.
Once selected your DC can mention it at interview if they fell it's necessary.
Unless there are specific requirements and support she needs then surely it's better to integrate as much a possible.

If it relates to why she is doing that course then mention it.
If not, don’t. She can disclose it elsewhere and teacher should mention it in reference.

This is nonsense. No one is selected because of their disability.

@Bunnyannesummers
This is nonsense. No one is selected because of their disability.

Not necessarily true, many multinationals, and educational establishments have inclusivity and equality quotas they have set and need to meet. I work in one such establishment where ability and experience are not always key to selection and promotion.
Of course you would love candidates to be selected only on merit and hopefully this is the overriding factors in most cases.

Fuck’s sake. The whole idea of inclusivity policies is to recognise and mitigate for the disadvantages already faced. To try to create an even playing field.

Not to give those with disabilities or other characteristics and challenges an unfair advantage.n

Many industries are trying to redress imbalance in their workforce by consciously employing a more diverse workforce. This is seen as beneficial for the business. You can build better products and services if you have input from people other than white middle class males. It’s not being being done for charitable reasons.

That too.

Unless it's relevant to future plans (framed as a reason for interest in the specific degree or career) or shows an important character trait relevant to course/future study (eg: used experience to campaign or support others), then we were recommended not to include disabilities, even though it had impacted ds education.

This (from a former Admissions tutor).

If your DD has an official diagnosis & current 'reasonable adjustments' under the DDA, then this will be noted on her UCAS application (or she can note it as she completes the form) other than in her PS.

It's likely the school will comment in the reference as well.

Has her disability affected her results or is it likely to? So that she would want the impact to be taken into account when offers are made.

Or is it that she will need adjustments when she starts the course in order to do as well as she can?

If it is the latter, she can fill in the relevant part of the UCAS form. But she also needs to apply for Disabled Students Alllowance (DSA) at the same time as she applies for student finance. She also needs to contact the Disability services at the universities she is interested in and accomodation services if she is planning to live away from home.