Despite Covid19, Student Finance England Continues Discriminatory Application Process

As a disabled student, I rely on Disabled Students Allowance (DSA), in order to receive the support I need at university. Administered by the government through Student Finance England, DSA funds equipment and human support that disabled students require in order to receive an equal education.

The application process however is far from equal. Whereas the rest of the student finance application can be completed online, the DSA application requires a student to print out a form and complete it by hand, sending it to the SFE office along with medical evidence to demonstrate that the student is disabled. As someone who is print disabled due to being blind, this application process puts me at a disadvantage. I am unable to both read or complete the form without seeking assistance from another person.

I requested that SFE send me a copy of the DSA application in an accessible format, a request which they refused. They claim that they cannot put the application form in an alternative format. I received support from another individual who assisted me with advocating for an accessible process and SFE have agreed to complete the form with me over the phone. Whilst I have chosen to accept this accomodation in the interest of time, it is far from ideal and I do not consider it a reasonable adjustment under the Equality Act for all disabled students.

Completing a form over the phone would still not enable deafblind or other non-speaking students to apply for DSA in an accessible way. Student Finance England must enable us to complete and submit the form electronically if we are truly to have equal access. It is worth noting that although they have claimed we cannot complete the form online, they will give you a copy of the form in braille. If they can produce braille copies of the form for us to read, I fail to see why we can’t submit an electronic form.

I find it even more baffling that during a pandemic, where we are trying to limit physical contact as much as possible, Student Finance England insists that disabled students seek out the support of another individual to fill out these forms. This requires us to come into contact with other individuals, and either travel to a post office, or find a family member or friend who can do it for us. Now, more than ever, solutions that give us true independence are essential.

I will be pursuing this issue further, taking it as far as I need to in order to make the changes necessary. I call on other disabled students who have experienced similar issues to reach out to me so that we might work together.

If you would prefer to share my message through video format, you can share the following YouTube video with your contacts. We must advocate for digital accessibility as it is a vital component of our equal participation in all aspects of society.

Transcript

In January I will begin a masters degree in social and public policy at the university of Leeds. I am a blind person and so I require certain adjustments to be made in order to be successful in higher education. In order to receive these adjustments I must apply for something called disabled students allowance. This is administered by the government through Student Finance England. For me as a blind person it would pay for things like a braille device, orientation and mobility training to learn the layout of campus and possible human support, such as a transcriber who would produce documents in an accessible format for me.

When I go to apply for student finance, the application itself is accessible. I can navigate it and fill it in using a screen-reader, which is a piece of software I use to access my computer. However, once it comes to applying for Disabled Students Allowance I am required to print off and fill in a form by hand. Of course this isn’t accessible to me as a blind person. I can’t read the form, I certainly can’t handwrite it and then I would have to find some way of writing the address on the envelope to actually send it off to Student Finance England.

In order to fill out the form myself I sent an email to Student Finance England asking that they provide me a copy of the form in an accessible format. I did not receive a response for several days, however once I did they said they would print me off a copy of the form and post it to me. This of course doesn’t actually solve my problem seeing as the issue is based around my inability to read the form or handwrite it. I did tell them this and I requested once again that I receive the form in an electronic copy.

I have involved others who have extensive experience with advocacy and who kindly offered to support me. Student Finance did respond to them and said they cannot change the format of the form, however they will help me fill it out over the phone. I have accepted this adjustment however I do not consider it a reasonable adjustment under the Equality Act for all disabled students. There are many students who could neither handwrite the form or fill it out over the phone, such as deafblind students or students who are autistic and may be non-speaking.

So what can we do to change these discriminatory practices? Well, I call on other disabled students whether they are blind or have a physical disability that prevents them from handwriting to reach out to me, so that we can build a case against Student Finance England and force them to change the format of their form. I absolutely think this is reasonable, considering the benefit that an online form would have to everyone. It would make the process more accessible, but it would also make it more cost effective for the government and Student Finance England. Currently, data from our hardcopy forms must be input into a system. However, if all the systems were based online including the form, that data could be agregated far more easily. So actually I think I’m kind of helping out the government too.

If you have experienced similar problems to me and would like to work with me to build a case against SFE, please reach out to me. You can email me at holly@catchthesewords.com or by sending me a message on Twitter @CatchTheseWords or through my CatchThese Words Facebook page. And I will of course include all this information in text format so that it’s easy for you to access as well.

If you’re not affected by this issue, but you do think that it should change, please share this video. The more people who understand why this is a problem the better.

I know there will be some people who watch this video and say but can’t you just have someone help you fill it out? Well, that relies on every disabled student having someone who can help them. And it also means that I’m forced to disclose private information, such as my medical history and access needs, to another individual. I don’t see why I should have to do this as it violates my right to privacy. So please, please please work with us to end these practices and move towards a more equitable system for all.