The Student Loans Company have recently announced reforms to Disabled Students Allowance (DSA), which it hopes will make the application process smoother and more reliable for university students. But will these changes have the desired effect for students with a vision impairment?
In order to answer this, we should first briefly explain how things used to work and the problems this caused. As an example, students based in England would first apply to Student Finance England, who would assess whether they were eligible for support from DSA. If the answer was yes, a student would then be required to arrange a Study Needs Assessment, which would involve finding a centre locally or perhaps making use of an assessment centre attached to their chosen university. There was no guarantee that the assessor in question would have disability-specific expertise, which often led to students being provided with the wrong equipment/assistive technology and/or not having their needs met appropriately in terms of other non-medical help. It would then be up to the student to contact the designated suppliers to purchase equipment, organise relevant training and arrange non-medical help. The consequence of this convoluted process was an inconsistent service, with some students experiencing significant delays to support being implemented.
The changes announced by the Student Loans Company will see applicants deal with one of two suppliers – Study Tech or Capita for their study Needs Assessment, the purchasing of study equipment/assistive technology and relevant training which in theory, should make for a more reliable and person-centred service. However, students will still need to liaise with their university and other suppliers to arrange non-medical help, such as sighted guides, notetakers and mobility training, as well as assistance with travelling to and from university. So what will this mean for vision impaired students?
For any DSA applicant, only having one point of contact for Study Needs Assessments, equipment and assistive technology purchasing and relevant training should make the process more straightforward and should help reduce delays and vision impaired students are no exception to this theory. But as always, the devil is in the detail. For example, it is not clear whether assessors will have relevant V.I.-specific expertise and whether training is being sub-contracted to companies who know how, for example, screen reading software should work. If these changes are underpinned by solid expertise, they will represent a significant step forward. If this is not the case, these changes will still represent a step forward. But it will be an opportunity missed. User feedback sought by organisations such as the Thomas Pocklington Trust will be key to answering this question.
The fact that this approach has not been applied to non-medical help is a potential concern for vision impaired applicants. Whilst technology is an obvious and vital enabler, human support is crucial if vision impaired students are to fulfil their academic potential and to be as independent as possible. There may come a point where human support is not needed. But we are not there yet and CrystalEyes would therefore encourage the Student Loans Company to apply its approach to technology and training to non-medical help.
So in conclusion, the changes proposed by the Student Loans Company are not yet a game changer for the vision impaired. But they could prove to be a significant step forward.