Hmm .... preparations for the future?

[WetAugust]

I'm currently filling out DS's application for Disabled Students Allowance so he can get assistance for his University course next year.

This is teh 3rd year that I've made this application.

In previous years all you had to do was send in a copy of the DLA award letter to provide evidence of disability.

This year the form is totally different:

No requirement to send any evidence of DLA now. Instead, an Ed Pysch / Medical report completed since the age of 16 is required, plus details of all previous year's DSA applications and DSA Reporrts (each DSA Report is 38 pages long so the postage for 76 pages of these will be horrendous).

So.... it would appear that not all HE students that will claim Disabled Students Allowance will be expected to be receiving DLA - ( conspiracy theory?? - this will be the case as they make DLA increasingly difficult to obtain).

I also think that not every / many students will be able to provide full Ed Pysch/Medical assessment completed since age of 16 - and if they can't the form says they should obtain one at their own expense.

FFS! We all know how long the queues for assessment are and I can't imagine the NHS queuing up to reassess students just so they can claim DLA so a private assessment will be required at £££££££££ (possibly hundreds of pounds).

This is very very wrong.

to be fair, the disabled students allowance has been a bit odd for a while.

my stepdaughter claimed it while at university. she neither needed the money (fees paid by dh, living costs paid by dh), nor claimed dla so had little evidence inorder to claim it.

her mother organised for an EP report (her first since she was 12, since she had refused to be tested/comply with any EP since that point) and paid for it (yes, an upfront expense, but worth it as it then netted dsd far more than the EP report cost, iyswim)

I'm all for the tightening up of systems that can be abused in such a way so easily.

sorry if it is causing you problems, though.

That's appalling -how did they sneak that in?

The student doesn't get paid any DSA - it goes straight to the University.

I think you're taling about the Special Support Grant Silverfrog. That is a grant that the student gets.

The DSA (something different) goes straight to the Uni to pay for the Support Workers that he needs on a daily basis and also pays for teh equipment he needs e.g. dictaphone etc.

We know that most kids get dx'd in their childhood, patted on the head and sent away. Trying to prove you still have a disbaility without all the Ed Pysch/Med reports they are requesting is going to be difficult and expensive.

no, it was DSA. (although special support grant was also claimed, I believe)

it got her a laptop her first year, and I can't remeber what the second year. she did not need a new laptop (had a new one, and a new PC, only 8 months before she went away).

it was seen as one fo those thigns that is there 'to be had' so her mother applied for it.

given how hard we have always had to fight for whatever dd1 has needed, I was horrified by how easily dsd obtained stuff she did not need.

absolutely agree with you wrt dx and a pat on the head, and lack of reports etc.

It appears the reports for Tribunal will be doubly useful then well if it still exists in a couple of years anyway.

All reports are useful

There is a huge amount of support available in HE - everything from 1:1 all day to live-in helpers and a whole host of equipment, as Silverfrog mentioned, plus consumables and book allowances. Some packages can be £16Kpa.

Compare that with having to fight tooth and nail for every hour of support during school days.

If a child can get as far as HE they are very well supported. The Catch-22 is that very few get to HE as they've been so badly let down in the earlier school life.

It shouldn't be like this.