Useful documents & contacts

We provide information and guidance so that disability related study needs can be met by Colleges, Halls, University Departments and Faculties.

The team is made up of five full-time officers (including the Head of Service), two part-time advisors and three administrative staff.  We are all experienced in advising students and staff with most disabilities and long-term health conditions.

Please contact the office to make an appointment if you need to speak to a member of the team in person. We are open all year round, excluding the University’s fixed closure dates which typically fall between Christmas and the New Year, and on UK Bank Holidays.

We are open Monday to Friday from 9.00am – 5.00pm, although some staff work part-time or flexible hours and are not always available.

General Contact Details

Telephone: +44 (0)1865 280459            

If nobody is immediately available (for example, because we are meeting with students), please leave a voicemail message and someone will return your call as soon as possible. 

Fax: +44 (0)1865 289850

Email: disability@admin.ox.ac.uk

Post and visitors (by appointment only) to: Disability Advisory Service, 3 Worcester Street, Oxford, OX1 2BX

Map and street view available from: http://tinyurl.com/DASphotoandmap

Level/Lift access throughout. Hearing Support System in meeting room. Automatic doors at main entrance and throughout.

DAS Documents

• DAS registration & study support form (140kb)
• Pro-forma for Recording of Lectures (57kb) 
• SpLD Fund form (68kb)

DAS student guides

• Undergraduate guide to disability support (290kb) 
• Graduate guide to disability support (317kb) 
• Guide to Accessing Support for SpLDs (347kb)
• Guide to Specialist Mentoring Support (149kb)

DAS staff guides

• Guide for Disability Contacts (158kb) 
• DAS Referral Process (46kb)
• Guidance for Colleges on adjustments for disabled interviewees (134kb)

SpLD guidance for Colleges

• Guidance on SpLD diagnostic assessments (47kb)
• JP letter re amendment to SpLD examination arrangements - 4 January 2012 (52kb)
• JP letter re SpLD examination arrangements - 1 November 2011 (118kb)
• Circular re amended SpLD examination arrangements - 21 September 2011 (255kb)

Disabled Students' Allowance (DSA) documents

• DSA factsheet
• Key steps to applying
• DSA Claim form 2011-12 (33kb)

People's stories: see, hear and read their experiences...

Healthtalkonline is the award-winning website which shares more than 2,000 people's experiences of over 60 health-related conditions and illnesses.  You can watch video or listen to audio clips of the interviews, read about people's experiences if you prefer and find reliable information about specific conditions, treatment choices and support.

Disability information sheets

The following information sheets provide information about a range of disabilities and their potential impact on studying (and vice versa), along with some possible solutions and details of other useful support resources.

This is not an exhaustive list of the disabilities that are covered by the Equality Act (2010), which encompasses a range of physical / health conditions (including HIV, cancer or multiple sclerosis), mental health difficulties (e.g. depression, anxiety disorders, and psychotic illnesses), Asperger Syndrome, and specific learning difficulties (SpLDs) such as Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, Attention Deficit (Hyperactivity) Disorder. 

More useful information is also available in the OUP disability guides.

• Access to work (90kb)
• AD(H)D (114kb)
• Autism and Asperger Syndrome (94kb)
• Asthma (118kb)
• Bi-Polar Affective Disorder (Manic Depression) (102kb)
• Cerebral Palsy (123kb) 
• Dyslexia (122kb)
• Dyspraxia (121kb)
• Epilepsy (104kb)
• Guide for Disability Contacts (158kb) 
• Guidance for Colleges on adjustments for disabled interviewees (134kb)
• Hearing Impairment Fact Sheet for Students (131kb)
• Hearing Impairment General Guidance for Staff Working With Students (107kb)
• Hearing Impairment: Working with Students who use Radio Aids (60kb)
• Hearing Impairment: Working with Students who Lip Read (68kb)
• Inflammatory Bowel Disease (Crohn's Disease) (120kb)
• Mental Health: information and support services (74kb)
• Guide to Specialist Mentoring Support (149kb)
• M.E. (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis) / Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (77kb)
• M.S. (Multiple Sclerosis) (116kb)
• O.C.D. (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) (117kb)
• Guidelines for the Storage of Mobility Scooters (49kb)
• Stairclimber Operation Guide (54kb)
• Electric Wheelchair and Scooter Hire in Oxford (40kb)
• Visual Impairment (139kb)
• Visual Impairment (139kb)

Rates of pay for DSA funded non-medical helper (NMH):

Rates of Pay and info 2013 (53kb)

Rates of Pay and info 2011 (54kb)

Rates of Pay and info 2010 (54kb)

The Access Guide contains information on University Departments, Libraries, Colleges and Museums around the Collegiate University, as well as contact details of people who can help with any access needs. It also contains some useful mapping features to help navigate between buildings and experience all that the University of Oxford has to offer.

• Visit the Access Guide

Accessible Resources Acquisitions and Creations Unit (ARACU)

ARACU is responsible for Oxford University Library Service’s (OULS’s) response to meeting the needs of disabled readers, including the provision of equipment, maintenance of information about it and provision of advice on premises. It acquires and creates resources in formats appropriate to needs, including Digital Audio Books (DAISY), Braille documents, Tactile diagrams, and Electronic Text (PDF and Word).

ARACU is located at Osney One Building, Osney Mead, OXFORD, OX2 0EW.

Telephone: +44 (0)1865 283862

Email: aracu@bodleian.ox.ac.uk

• Visit the ARACU website

The Careers Service

Many students postpone thinking about life beyond Oxford until the dust settles on their finals. Whatever the nature of your disability, the Careers Service encourages you to take full advantage of its facilities from an appropriate stage in your pre-final year.

The Careers Service is open to all undergraduates and graduate students of the University during their years at Oxford and up to four years beyond graduation. 

The Careers Service can be found at 56 Banbury Road, Oxford, OX2 6PA.

Telephone: +44 (0)1865 274 646 (general enquiries), or +44 (0)1865 274 663 (employer enquiries)

• Visit the Careers Service website

IT Services

IT Services complements local IT provisions, offering a wide range of facilities for the whole University. Provisions for disabled users include a specially adapted workstation, with a large screen, assistive software and a variety of input devices. Many of our documents can be supplied in other formats, e.g. Braille, but these must be requested in advance.

IT Services are based at 13 Banbury Road, Oxford, OX2 6NN.

Telephone: +44 (0)1865 273 200.

• Visit the IT Services website for more information and other contact options.

Oxford University Student Union (OUSU): Student Advice Service

The OUSU Student Advice Service is a confidential listening and advice service and aims to provide a space for students to talk over their worries in confidence, and to offer advice on resolving a range of issues that students might encounter during their time at Oxford. 

Members of the service can provide you with both practical advice, for example about leasing a house or changing course, as well as with support for personal issues. 

The advisers are all experienced in dealing with students and aim to see students for an initial assessment within five working days of the student making contact and then to offer regular counselling at an early date.

OUSU are based at 2 Worcester Street, Oxford, OX1 2BX.

Telephone: +44 (0)1865 288 452

Email: enquiries@ousu.org

• Visit the OUSU website

Attention (Defecit) Hyperactivity Disorder - ADD/ADHD

• Adult Attention Deficit Disorder (UK)
• National Attention Deficit Disorder Information and Support Service
• Simply Wellbeing
• DANDA
• ADDERS

Autism and Asperger Syndrome

• The National Autistic Society
• Autism Family Support Project

Dyslexia

• The British Dyslexia Association
• The Dyslexia Research Trust
• Adult Dyslexia Organisation (ADO)
• Dyslexia Action (formerly the Dyslexia Institute)

Dyspraxia

• The Dyspraxia Foundation
• Dyspraxia Connexion

General

• BBC Disability Website
• Healthtalkonline
• EmployAbility
• The Equality and Human Rights Commission
• NNAC - National Network of Assessment Centres
• TechDis – Disability and technology in HE information
• OUP disability guides

Epilepsy

• Epilepsy Action
• Epilepsy Society

Health conditions

• Asthma UK
• Scope (Cerebral Palsy) 
• The Multiple Sclerosis Society 

M.E. (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome)

• The National M.E. Centre
• Action for M.E
• Support M.E

Mental Health

• The University of Oxford Counselling Service
• Depression Alliance
• BEAT: beating eating disorders
• MIND
• Oxford Student Mental Health Network
• The Mental Health Foundation
• Rethink
• Students Against Depression
• Student Mental Wealth Project

Sensory impairments

• National Centre for Tactile Diagrams
• RNIB - Royal National Institute of the Blind
• Action on Hearing Loss (formerly RNID)
• Deafblind UK

Stammering

• British Stammering Association

ADHD Oxfordshire

Provides information and support (including a monthly support group) for young people and adults with ADHD, parents, teachers and other interested parties.

Deaf Direct (Oxford)

Promotes responsive, professional and empowering opportunities to a diverse and unique community of deaf and hard of hearing people in and around the community of Oxfordshire.

Kit Mobility Taxis

Specialists in manual/powered wheelchairs, mobility scooters and 8-seated minibuses.

Oxfordshire Autistic Society for Information & Support (OASIS)

Information relating to Autistic Spectrum Disorders.

Oxford Aspies

Twice monthly support group meeting for adults with Asperger Syndrome and High Functioning Autism.

Oxford Association for the Blind (OAB)

Support for visually impaired people across Oxfordshire.

Oxford City Council Access Officer

Telephone: +44 (0)1865 25253, Email: lhooper@oxford.gov.uk

Oxfordshire Dyslexia Association (ODA)

Advice on all matters related to dyslexia and education.

Oxford Student Mental Health Network (OSMHN)

Partnership between Oxford Brookes University, the University of Oxford, Oxford and Cherwell Valley College, Oxford City Primary Care Trust and Oxfordshire Mental Healthcare NHS Trust.

Wheelchair and mobility scooter hire

Details of services based in Oxford.