Post-Graduate Research Students Disability Support Form

In order to put support in place for you, Disability Support staff will need to liaise with relevant colleagues in the Open University, e.g. The Graduate School, your Supervisors, administrative staff in your Faculty, or anyone else that we deem necessary.

By completing this form you agree to us contacting other Open University colleagues to enable us to support you.

If you have any questions about this before you submit the form, please contact PGR-Disability-Support@open.ac.uk

To find out more about how we use your personal data, please see our Student Privacy Notice on the link below:

Student Privacy Notice

Please note that we are unable to process your Disability Support Form until you have accepted your formal offer of study, so we recommend that you submit it once you have accepted.

Your name
Email address
Personal Identifier

If you don't know your PI, please contact the Research School. It is important that we know your PI to ensure your form is matched to the correct student record.

Please give the nature of your disability, health condition, mental health difficulty or specific learning difficulty here:

Please tell us how your condition(s) affects you:

Sight - you are blind or partially sighted Hearing - you are deaf or hard of hearing. Mobility - your mobility is restricted. Manual skills - for example, this may include difficulty handling items such as books. Speech - you have a speech impairment. Specific learning difficulty (such as dyslexia or dyspraxia). Mental health - you need support because of a mental health issue such as depression, anxiety, bipolar or PTSD. Fatigue (extreme tiredness) or pain - you need support because of extreme tiredness or pain. Unseen disability - for example, this may include diabetes, epilepsy or asthma. Autistic Spectrum disorder - you have an autistic spectrum condition.

Please give us details of how your condition may affect your study:

We know that everyone’s condition affects them in different ways, for example you may have difficulties with studying visual materials or hearing on the telephone or with your memory or concentration.

Please give us details of any adjustment or support you might need so that you can undertake your research:
Please give us of any adjustments/support you might need with any of the following: contacting your supervisors, producing written work or accessing feedback:

Your supervisors are the first people to approach if you have any questions about your study arrangements. Alternatively you can seek help from your Postgraduate Research Tutor/Convenor, Deputy Academic Dean for Research or Third Party Monitor.

Your supervisions may take place face to face or online, there will also be an expectation that you will engage with the research culture within the faculty and take part in seminars/group discussions etc. at various venues. They will involve presentations either by yourself or someone else. You may need to take notes in some form and potentially engage in group work.

Please give us details of adjustments/ support you think you might need to attend a face to face meeting or participate online.

(Please note we will ask you about physical access to buildings later)

Please tell us about any other adjustments/support you might need because of the way your condition affects you in day to day life that might affect your study:

Please tell us your needs for access to buildings (locations vary so we can’t guarantee arrangements)

Parking very near (with blue badge) Parking very near (no blue badge) Wheelchair access Level access (no steps) Easy access (few steps) Access without using a lift Ground-floor room only Room close to the entrance Nearby toilet Room with induction loop

Would you like communication support (only applies if you are deaf or hard of hearing)
Yes
No

This form is separate from your application for Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA).

If you are not eligible for a DSA would you like to know about our equipment schemes If you are eligible for DSA do you want to know about small items of equipment we may be able to loan you until your equipment from DSA is delivered

Do you need advice about how your condition might affect your research before you register?
Yes
No

Please tell us how much your condition will affect your proposed plan of research
Significant Effect
Moderate Effect
Little Effect

You'll need to provide supporting evidence of your condition in order to access specialist support. Please upload evidence using the link below: - Upload size limited to 20MB

If you aren't sure whether you will be able to provide Supporting Evidence, or you need additional time to obtain this, please continue with this form (leaving the above "upload" section blank) as there may be advice and guidance we can offer you, even without Supporting Evidence.

If you need to send your supporting evidence to us later, you can email it to PGR-Disability-Support@open.ac.uk

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