Uni’s offering Contextual offers for Disabled applicants

[Tirangapete]

My DD is deaf and education is very challenging for her

I’m trying to compile a list of Universities that support and offer contextual offers for Deaf young people or disabled young people

she is a very hard working but academics are challenging for her but with support and reasonable adjustments I’m 100% sure she will thrive at university

welcome any support or advice

Bangor gave a one grade reduction for 'chronic illness'. No other choices did the same.

I think it would be worth making a long list of where DD would like to study (subject and location) and then trawl through the websites to see which ones will take disability into account. It’s often not within the contextual offer sections but comes under the widening participation scheme sections.

You / the school can also highlight the challenges your DD has faced on the UCAS form, or there may be an additional info form to submit with your application, and you can ring uni admissions teams and disability support teams to ask questions.

Also, UCL runs a summer school that might be of interest if your DD qualifies for it?

www.ucl.ac.uk/widening-participation/learners/year-12-and-13/discover-ucl-summer-school-deaf-and-hard-hearing-students

This is my experience. I'm on the lookout for dd who has a disability and I've yet to find one that includes disability as part of their contextual information.

Once again, I cannot stress enough…

Do not discount a university because they do not list disability in their contextual offer information.
Find courses your daughter will enjoy, and have entry criteria around her grades. Then visit them on an open day and speak to their admissions team and disability support team.

Not all universities offer the same level of support- they can vary wildly.
Not all reasons for a lower grade offer are advertised.

@Tirangapete
Based on your DDs predictions I don’t think I’d be worrying too much about contextual. More, whether a Uni takes disability into account in the std offer, ie if all things are equal then disability also comes into offering. And prob most importantly whether a Uni has suitable, adequate or outstanding provision for teaching those with disabilities.

Different DD

eldest DD has Cambridge offer she is lucky enough never to have had to be educated in classrooms of 30 children with a sensory loss like hearing

sadly our schools are unruly and deaf children seriously struggle

Ah ok, sorry.

Worth enquiring about support offered at different universities- perhaps look on Studentroom which can be very good for anonymous and up to date insights on different universities.
My son is autistic so I have an interest in his university choices, however I also work at a RG university supporting students in the disability and inclusion department. For students with hearing loss I would take notes to fill in any gaps where they may not have caught what's being said in a lecture or seminar. Students have to apply for funding.

I wasn't saying that Worcester didn't give your DS a contextual offer. I was saying that most universities don't for disability.

My own child had a disability contextual offer from Essex.

Warwick have an “extenuating circumstances” offer
https://warwick.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/apply/extenuating-circumstances/

I think you would have to make the case that your DDs deafness has not been adequately addressed in the mainstream classroom as you describe here.

A friend’s child got a lower offer from Warwick on this basis due to a chronic condition which impacted their A level studies. They did discuss with the admissions dept before including Warwick on the UCAS form.

@north51 thanks for posting this! It seems that since 2024 there is a section in the UCAS Reference which covers this situation for other unis: https://www.ucas.com/advisers/help-and-training/guides-resources-and-training/writing-references/ucas-registered-centre-linked-applications-undergraduate-references
So a candidate would need to make sure their referee was fully briefed up

Kent and Reading both gave my son contextual offers for disability this year. Both 2 grades lower than advertised requirement.

I think you do need to be careful in seeking lower offers for the highly rated universities (depending on the nature of the disability). My older DC is at a top ten university. He didn’t get a contextual offer from the university he went to. He is working incredibly hard.
I am a little concerned that DC2 will struggle.

Careful in what way ?

Just in terms of keeping up. It’s all very well getting an offer that allows you to go to a top university with lower grades but you don’t want to find yourself bottom of the pack and struggling. Sometimes a more varied ability cohort will be a better option (particularly since degrees are not standardised and are graded on a bell curve within the particular institution) and especially now that so many employers are moving to blind recruitment so they don’t even know where you went to university

my daughter would be very upset by that view

in fact it’s shocking

disabled people can aim to be amongst the best, world leaders in fact, With reasonable adjustments and proper support disabled people can be world leaders

after all Stephen Hawking's greatest achievement was discovering that black holes emit radiation, which is now known as Hawking radiation. This discovery fundamentally changed our understanding of black holes and the universe..:: he was a very disabled man

surprised at that post

I agree although I don’t think that post was made with malintent.

It is very difficult when many assume the need for reasonable accommodations is indicative of lack of academic ability.

And then the opposite- that someone is too academically able to qualify for any help

im exhausted dealing with it all for my DC. And they are also worn down. Sigh.

OP I hope your DC finds a lovely uni that ticks all her boxes

I did say it depends on the disability. Both of my DC have conditions which make it harder for them to achieve academically.

if there was no impact from the disability on the ability to achieve higher grades than there would be no need for contextual offers.

if an adjustment has enabled a child with a disability to achieve an A when they would otherwise have achieved a D then it’s worked. Certain adjustments can do this for example extra time in exams or being able to use a laptop. If an adjustment simply allows them access to a group achieving As with their Ds then they are potentially being set up to struggle since even with the adjustments they still can’t meet the standards achieved by others.

my second child wants to do a subject which is regarded as very academically challenging and leads to a career which is similarly academically challenging. If his adjustments enable him to get As then great they have worked and he should be able to keep up. If he still gets Cs and the university lets him in anyway then he will be sitting at the bottom of a highly achieving pack and will struggle. I’m not sure that is the right thing for him.

There is of course a significant difference between a physical disability and a learning disability. I was generalising with my comment that people need to be careful and I did say it depends on the disability.

Disability is not part of contextual offer scheme at Worcester but it is an important thing to declare so support can be put in place before starting and staff can consider adjustments.

Worcester has a lot of students with disabilities and/or neurodivergence. They're good for inclusion for disabled people in sport and have lots of facilities.

I would find the courses you child is interested in and then search for contextual offer info for that uni.

www.worc.ac.uk/study/find-a-course/how-to-apply/contextual-offers.aspx

My daughter got a CCC offer from Keele instead of BBB, one grade drop was because of her EPQ and the other two because of her disabilities.
She got an unconditional offer from Portsmouth but I do not know if this was contextual or unrelated.
There has been quite a spread in terms of learning support across the Unis that we visited before applying but in general they have seemed as though they would be very supportive.

@DY10DY11 would you be happy for me to pm you to find out more about the support available at Worcester? It's on my son's list and he has various issues, so good support will be crucial

You can do, I don't mind.

I think it's more likely that disabled students get offered financial help than contextualised offers.

I think it's more important to ask about what services the universities can provide in house. The system of government funded support for disabled students under DSA is basically falling apart, it's particularly difficult for students with sensory impairments as it's so difficult to find suitably qualified staff. You are better off going to a lower tariff university and excelling because of the excellent support than going to a higher tariff university and everything being a struggle because no support is available that meets your needs.