Appeal university decision for medicine withdrawal

Difficult case. Your brother could possibly have been more active in pursuing this matter, but his treatment does seem to differ from that given the other student.

Key questions might be exactly when 'during the year' he decided he wanted to be tested? How long before he spoke to his lecturer? How long before he arranged the failed meetings? Was a meeting actually arranged but the academic staff simply didn't turn up?

However, the university should treat dyslexics sympathetically and consistently, so it might be an idea to check the situation with a lawyer in conjunction with definitely launching an appeal.

(BTW my wife is dyslexic.)

Reply 2

OP

Thanks for the reply.

He justs wants another opportunity to resit the exam and his fellow student has been given this whilst he hasn't.

Only difference is when his fellow student found out he was dyslexic he was told he could have another sitting whilst my borther wasn't. So when he got his results he was fustrated that he had been kicked out whilst this student was given another chance.

His tutor didn't mention this student and how he has been invited back to him as well... he found out from freinds and spoke to the student.

Reply 3

sheeesh

How did it take until he was at university for him to discover he was dyslexic? And why did he only start trying to get help for it after failing his exams, which are presumably at the end of the year?

Reply 4

Politics Student

10

Original post by sheeesh

How did it take until he was at university for him to discover he was dyslexic? And why did he only start trying to get help for it after failing his exams, which are presumably at the end of the year?

Dyslexia is not easy to spot sometimes and quite often teachers are not trained to spot dyslexia.

At university some lecturers are amazing at spotting learning difficulties in students. There were three people told to get checked for dyslexia after the first assignment in one of my seminar classes of my first year.

Reply 5

Persephone9

13

Original post by needsomeadvice

Thanks for the reply.

He justs wants another opportunity to resit the exam and his fellow student has been given this whilst he hasn't.

Only difference is when his fellow student found out he was dyslexic he was told he could have another sitting whilst my borther wasn't. So when he got his results he was fustrated that he had been kicked out whilst this student was given another chance.

His tutor didn't mention this student and how he has been invited back to him as well... he found out from freinds and spoke to the student.

I'd tell him it's definitely worth trying to appeal, but not to get to caught up in what's happening with the other student as chances are he doesn't know exactly what has happened there, and there is likely to be some other factors involved (such as how well they've performed in other assessments throughout the year).

I'd also suggest he has a look at the polices of the medical school; at mine we are told very clearly at the start of 1st year if we think we are dyslexic then to go and get tested ASAP, as they would be much stricter about people submitting it as their mitigating circumstances after an exam. On the whole, I think (although I've never been to any med school but my own) mitigating circumstances should be submitted before an exam unless there is a very good reason otherwise, and whilst it's not your brothers fault that he had to email back and forth for this, there are presumably other routes to organise this (and if not, then it's probably an issue to take up with the appeal committee).

I know this sounds a bit harsh but it's really the only way to get round it, and I don't think hiring a personal lawyer is necessarily going to be helpful. Again, potentially only at my med school but we are granted a resit only at the discretion of the exam committee (and have to pass a minimum of 2/4 exams per year if we are allowed to resit any) - and I do understand how stressful it can be having had my whole summer taken up by resitting.

Reply 6

OP

He asked for a dyslexia test in college and they got back to him giving him mixed results. They you're likely to be dyslexic but we think you're fine.

In other words they told him not to worry and he was fine.

Also before he found out his first stting results (around january) he asked his lecturer if from his essays the lecturer felt he was dyslexic. The lecturer said he thought my brother was fine but would get in touch with someone and get back to him.

My brother therefore didn't chase him up as he felt the lecturer would get back but when he realised it had been ages he arranged for a meeting on his own. This time one member was on maternity leave and another wasn't present i think .Then he made another appointment but they gave him one which wasn't realitic as he had it between 2 medicine exams. When he arranged another one he went and found out he was dyslexic.

Reply 7

OP

Do you think his case sounds strong enough though or should he start applying for a degree or job elsewhere?

Reply 8

edjunkie

15

Get in touch with disability officer at the university, get them to help your brother lodge an appeal.

Reply 9

Original post by needsomeadvice

Also before he found out his first stting results (around january) he asked his lecturer if from his essays the lecturer felt he was dyslexic. The lecturer said he thought my brother was fine but would get in touch with someone and get back to him.

My brother therefore didn't chase him up as he felt the lecturer would get back but when he realised it had been ages he arranged for a meeting on his own. This time one member was on maternity leave and another wasn't present i think .Then he made another appointment but they gave him one which wasn't realitic as he had it between 2 medicine exams. When he arranged another one he went and found out he was dyslexic.

Being honest, this is where your brother should perhaps have been more proactive. The lecturers appear to have been lax, but he let it slide a bit if there was nothing really done between January and the second exams. Did he feel a bit worried about being labelled dyslexic? My wife faced that when she was younger with her parents advising her not to seek help rather than being 'stigmatised' (this was quite a while ago).

One approach might be for your brother to dig out the essays he submitted in January and ask the student support expert who recently diagnosed him whether there was clear evidence of dyslexia in them. If so, then the lecturer who thought they were fine would be shown to be in the wrong.

Reply 10

Politics Student

10

Original post by ageshallnot

Did he feel a bit worried about being labelled dyslexic? My wife faced that when she was younger with her parents advising her not to seek help rather than being 'stigmatised' (this was quite a while ago).

You would be surprised. I had a friend who was recommended for testing in his first year and he refused to get checked. He spent his second year in the US as part of an exchange year. The final year first assignment feedback highlighted him potentially dyslexic and he refused to take the test until a lecturer talked him into about 10 weeks later. By the time he had the results which came back as possibly dyslexic and a full assessment recommended it was the start of semester 2. Because of him fearing employers may judge him he did not get the full assessment. I did tell him at the time that he was an idiot. He graduated with a high 2.2 and if he had gotten the dyslexic support I am sure he would have got a 2.1.

Even then I still come across bigots at MSc level. While teachers and lecturers generally have a good understanding of dyslexia there is the issue that fellow students can sometimes turn out to be bigots. I even met one in my MSc year, as I sat down next to this guy who is bitching about another person getting extra time in an exam to his mate and is suddenly claiming that dyslexia does not exist.

I have not met a lecturer with such attitudes but then again if I did I would make an official complaint against them.

I did have a rather entertaining chat with my dissertation supervisor at my last meeting who noticed a common dyslexic mistake in a chapter plan and asked if I had ever been checked for dyslexia. I replied with "I have and I have been diagnosed from suffering from severe dyslexia". Her response was just "wow I honestly cannot tell from your writing". Which is a good thing, I have spent a long time producing coping strategies and improving my writing style. Still the chat did produce a smile on my face.

Reply 11

I can understand reasonably well. My wife went through school, college and her university at undergraduate level suspecting - but never being sure - that she was dyslexic. Part of her strategy for her first degree (1994-97) was to choose a subject that was practical, requiring little reading and writing.

In 2010 she decided to take a Masters in a subject that required 'normal' skills in reading and writing, which meant a great deal of mental effort and new strategies. For example, when she had to remember sequences of events these were committed to memory as images, not words. So the 'execution' stage of a project was drawn on a post-it note as a hanged man rather than a word. The difference in her performance when using these and similar strategies was quite remarkable :smile:

Reply 12

Politics Student

10

Original post by ageshallnot

I can understand reasonably well. My wife went through school, college and her university at undergraduate level suspecting - but never being sure - that she was dyslexic. Part of her strategy for her first degree (1994-97) was to choose a subject that was practical, requiring little reading and writing.

In 2010 she decided to take a Masters in a subject that required 'normal' skills in reading and writing, which meant a great deal of mental effort and new strategies. For example, when she had to remember sequences of events these were committed to memory as images, not words. So the 'execution' stage of a project was drawn on a post-it note as a hanged man rather than a word. The difference in her performance when using these and similar strategies was quite remarkable :smile:

The use of images and colours can really be very effective. I have met other dyslexics who went for more practical courses. I ended up doing a course with a massive reading requirement and writing requirement. I had the nice comment from my supervisor that I was one of the most driven masters students she had taught, but you have to be when you have major learning difficulties and everything is much more of an effort.

My strategies that I use are:

- Mind maps for essay plans (bright and colourful) and structuring makes a lot more sense in this format. My undergrad dissertation became 4 A3 pages taped together to become a massive wall chart with all the key points in coloured paper that could be moved around as the structure changed.

- Proof reading (Basically getting a head on a piece of work so I have plenty of time to edit).

- Selective assignments. Basically I choose optional units on the basis of the assessment type (avoiding all exams). One of the most annoying aspects of dyslexia is the impact that it can have on organisation and it has to be overcome to give time to correct issues with work.

My difference in marks between exams and essays is huge. Exams I can only just about pass (and a couple of occasions had to be resit) while my essays were high 2.1s or 1sts by my final year. Simply put the 25% extra time is just bull**** as a solution, mainly because it takes a lot of time to check through work and even then I found it very difficult to do on a PC screen as I would normally print an essay out to proof read.

- Reading was also a bit of a pain mainly because I am slightly slower due to the dyslexia, but I found that I developed scan reading techniques and electronic articles (ctrl F) help in finding key points. I had to pretty much print off all electronic resources but coloured highlighters really helped.

Finding strategies that work is a lot of time and effort but worth it when you find ones that work for you. Of course there are more strategies I must use but there is a very good chance they have become very normalised in my learning techniques that I don't even recognise then as strategies any more.

Reply 13

lizolove

19

Original post by needsomeadvice

My brother was doing medicine first year and failed 2 exams. So he had to do 2 resits. He passed one and failed the other. He isn't being allowed to resit the year. It all sounds fair however there's more to the story...

During the year he wanted to get checked for dyslexia as he was struggling with the reading. He himself spoke to a lecturer about his concern who said he'd arrange a meeting for him. However this lecturer never got back to him. After a while my brother then tried to arrange another meeting and when he went they were not there or couldn't do the meeting that day. The next meeting offered was between two of his exams so he had to reject it as it would've meant losing last minute revision time. He spoke to his tutor and she said to him you should get checked straightaway and that very day he was going to get his assessment done. However by this time he had already done the first sitting of exams. He has evidence of months of emailing back to front where he tried to arrange a meeting for dyslexia.

He found out he was dyslexic before his 2nd sitting which was the only sitting where he was given extra time. According to medicine exam policy every student should be given 2 sittings and as he is dyslexic he should have 2 sittings with extra time. He wants the oppurtunity to resit the exam so he has 2 sittings with extra time. Another student who was asked to do the dyslexia test and came back as dyslexic has been given this oppurtunity and was told before hand that he can have another sitting with extra time - this doesn't seem right as he was asked to do the test and didn't want to but was persuaded with an extra sitting with free time if he is dyslexic whilst my brother spent ages trying to arrange an appropriate time slot for his test. This delayed him getting extra time in his first sitting and meant he couldn't benefit from the funding equipment offered to dyslexics. He has been offered £4000 worth of equipment now which if he had before could've benefitted him.

It all seems unfair and when my brother went to meet his tutor after finding out he was kicked from the course she screamed at him and was very mean! She was telling him off for not doing the test earlier and that his not a child and it was his responsibility despite the other student doing the test at a similar time too. He wants to appeal this decision but is it a strong case? Should he hire a private lawyer or just appeal himself?

Please help!

The University is inevitably a business, and will look at it strictly rather than on the merits of the case.

They will see that whilst the tutor may have spent time getting back to your brother, unless your brother can prove he actively requested help from various sources, they will blame him.
They may also note that your brother turned down the dyslexia test, which ultimately meant that it was of his own choice that he wasn't tested (exam period or not, they are harsh like that).

Even with a private lawyer, I don't think you'd get very far unless you can prove that your brother was ignored when he reached out for help from the university and that he turned down the assessment on good grounds (these grounds will probably be deemed useless by the university on the basis that he could have taken a few hours out of revision if it was that important). You could possibly argue it if he had the exams close together, or they were core modules, but exams that are apart will not work in his favour.

Sorry to inform you, but this is how I think they'd see it. :frown:

Quote me with any queries.
Know somebody who went through something similar.

Reply 14

Original post by Politics Student

The use of images and colours can really be very effective. I have met other dyslexics who went for more practical courses. I ended up doing a course with a massive reading requirement and writing requirement. I had the nice comment from my supervisor that I was one of the most driven masters students she had taught, but you have to be when you have major learning difficulties and everything is much more of an effort.

My strategies that I use are:

- Mind maps for essay plans (bright and colourful) and structuring makes a lot more sense in this format. My undergrad dissertation became 4 A3 pages taped together to become a massive wall chart with all the key points in coloured paper that could be moved around as the structure changed.

- Proof reading (Basically getting a head on a piece of work so I have plenty of time to edit).

- Selective assignments. Basically I choose optional units on the basis of the assessment type (avoiding all exams). One of the most annoying aspects of dyslexia is the impact that it can have on organisation and it has to be overcome to give time to correct issues with work.

My difference in marks between exams and essays is huge. Exams I can only just about pass (and a couple of occasions had to be resit) while my essays were high 2.1s or 1sts by my final year. Simply put the 25% extra time is just bull**** as a solution, mainly because it takes a lot of time to check through work and even then I found it very difficult to do on a PC screen as I would normally print an essay out to proof read.

- Reading was also a bit of a pain mainly because I am slightly slower due to the dyslexia, but I found that I developed scan reading techniques and electronic articles (ctrl F) help in finding key points. I had to pretty much print off all electronic resources but coloured highlighters really helped.

Finding strategies that work is a lot of time and effort but worth it when you find ones that work for you. Of course there are more strategies I must use but there is a very good chance they have become very normalised in my learning techniques that I don't even recognise then as strategies any more.

Yes, so much of this is familiar to her! Good on you...

Reply 15

OP

Original post by lizolove

The University is inevitably a business, and will look at it strictly rather than on the merits of the case.

They will see that whilst the tutor may have spent time getting back to your brother, unless your brother can prove he actively requested help from various sources, they will blame him.
They may also note that your brother turned down the dyslexia test, which ultimately meant that it was of his own choice that he wasn't tested (exam period or not, they are harsh like that).

Even with a private lawyer, I don't think you'd get very far unless you can prove that your brother was ignored when he reached out for help from the university and that he turned down the assessment on good grounds (these grounds will probably be deemed useless by the university on the basis that he could have taken a few hours out of revision if it was that important). You could possibly argue it if he had the exams close together, or they were core modules, but exams that are apart will not work in his favour.

Sorry to inform you, but this is how I think they'd see it. :frown:

Quote me with any queries.
Know somebody who went through something similar.

I agree! My brother has evidence of emailing back and forth for months to get an appointment booked. He says there isn't any evidence that he was offered an appointment between 2 exams ( no confirmation email or anything just mentioned) so he is likely to not mention that. He is going to argue once he asked his lecturer to look into the matter he had a during the year exam coming up nd because he had been tested in college where they said he was okay and he didn't want to be 'stigmatised' due to being dyslexic he didn't chase it up as much as he should have. However 2 weeks after this during the year exam he started taking things into his own hand and his first appointment was cancelled due to someone being on maternity leave - thereis is no evidence for the second appointment as it was simply a suggestion but the date wasn't reasonable as it was between 2 final exams so i think he won't mention that as university has no evidence for it, and then after a while the actual confirmed appointment he got was the one he went to nd got diagnosed.

After this he should he given 2 sittings with extra time and another student who was reccomended to do a dyslexia test and was diagnosed around a similar time has been given this oppurtunity.

Reply 16

OP

He isn't going to book a private lawyer just appeal through the system... please pray this all works out and feel free to drop in any suggestions.
He also wants to argue that due to the lecturer not getting back to him nd his appointment being cancelled - with the next confirmed one ages after, he was unable to take advantage of the specialist dyslexia equipment worth around £4000 that is now being offered to him but is no use whereas it could have benefited him earlier. He recieved no one on one support even after he found out he had been diagnosed towards end of year before his resits and wasn't told about another sitting whereas his fellow student was informed right away that he could have another sitting due to being diagnosed.

He thinks it's because he wanted to get checked whereas this student was recomended - however this can't be right! The weakness of his appeal seems to be that he didn't chase up this lecturer for a month however he didn't beleive he was dyslexic due to being checked and told he is fine at college but probably due to struggling with all the reading felt it was worthwhile getting checked. He mentions he also didn't want to be stereotyped as dyslexic in the medicine prefession but when he realised this lecturer hadn't gotten back and he still had doubts he decided to take things into his own hands and arrange an appointment himself. Then he has evidence of emails.

Reply 17

lizolove

19

Original post by needsomeadvice

I agree! My brother has evidence of emailing back and forth for months to get an appointment booked. He says there isn't any evidence that he was offered an appointment between 2 exams ( no confirmation email or anything just mentioned) so he is likely to not mention that. He is going to argue once he asked his lecturer to look into the matter he had a during the year exam coming up nd because he had been tested in college where they said he was okay and he didn't want to be 'stigmatised' due to being dyslexic he didn't chase it up as much as he should have. However 2 weeks after this during the year exam he started taking things into his own hand and his first appointment was cancelled due to someone being on maternity leave - thereis is no evidence for the second appointment as it was simply a suggestion but the date wasn't reasonable as it was between 2 final exams so i think he won't mention that as university has no evidence for it, and then after a while the actual confirmed appointment he got was the one he went to nd got diagnosed.

After this he should he given 2 sittings with extra time and another student who was reccomended to do a dyslexia test and was diagnosed around a similar time has been given this oppurtunity.

Even with this argument, the university may only be prepared to offer your brother to sit these exams in January/June, next year, before he can progress to level 2 the following year, some universities do this.
Ask your brother if there are any requirements stated in the university guide to exams or anything, and see if there is anything specifically mentioned regarding his situation. :smile:

Reply 18

OP