What support is available?

There’s a lot of different support available for disabled students at the University of Sheffield. Together, we’ll ensure you have access to support that works for you.

On

Disability advisers 

All students who access DDSS are allocated a disability adviser who can support you before and during your course. 

Your adviser is your named point of contact for ongoing queries and advice within the service. They’ll put in place academic support for you based on discussions with you about your specific requirements.

You’ll have a lot of control over your support. If you ever want to review or make a change to what’s in place for you, just let us know at disability.info@sheffield.ac.uk. 

Examples of support we can offer

  • A Learning Support Plan to ensure all staff working with you know how to support you.
  • Support with the transition to University - e.g. tailored one-to-one orientation support to help you get used to the University environment and find your way round.
  • Help with travel from accommodation and with getting around campus.
  • Face to face support to help with managing your studies or to work on literacy skills.
  • Computing equipment and software to facilitate independent study.
  • Support workers to provide notes or assistance in lab sessions.
  • Exam adjustments such as extra time, rest breaks or use of a computer.
  • A social group for autistic students (including those who think they are autistic but have not received a formal diagnosis)
  • Establishing whether you are eligible for additional study-related funding support (eg Disabled Students' Allowances).

Learning Support Plans (LSPs)

A Learning Support Plan (LSP) is the document we share with your academic department(s) to confirm that you are a disabled student and are entitled to support to ensure that you are not disadvantaged during your studies.

Disability Liaison Officers

Each department has a Disability Liaison Officer (DLO), who can help you with any issues.

Find your DLO's contact details

Resources to help you settle in to University

Our Autism and Uni toolkit provides information about university life and suggests strategies to help with challenges you may encounter.

There are ‘AccessAble’ access guides for all of our buildings and facilities, including route guides to assist travel around campus.

University accommodation 

If you have disability-related accommodation requirements (eg you need a wheelchair-accessible or en-suite room), please mention these in your accommodation application form so they can be taken into account when rooms are allocated.

If you have any questions about accommodation, contact the accommodation team. 

How to apply for accommodation

Personal care support

If you require assistance with day-to-day living tasks such as washing, getting dressed, going to the toilet or cooking, you can apply for Personal Care Support through the Social Services department of your local authority. 

This can take a long time to set up so ideally apply around a year before the start of your course. 

If you’re an international student, you won’t be eligible for Social Services funding towards day-to-day living tasks and you will need to be able to fund this independently.

The accessibility of our digital learning tools

This page has information on some of the accessibility features that are in place for the University’s core digital learning tools, and where to find more support with each of these services.