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Disabled Student Subforum

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Ethereal

Not really. A lot of disabilities are not obvious to look at someone, so you can't actually say "there are not many disabled people in the student population" as you simply can't tell. Things such as dyslexia affect a student's life in educational terms but do not necessarily affect a night out, so your point about the lifestyle not attracting disabled people is also wrong too.

Saying there are few disabled students does not negate the need for a sub-forum. Are you going to apply the same reasoning to the mature student sub-forum; in that there are few mature students and they face the same problems as everyone else anyway?

Firstly, there are very few disabled students compared to mature students. Secondly, I don't believe dyslexia is a disability (as in, a lack of ability), more a hindrance, since people with dyslexia can still read and write, just not as well, which is normally accounted for in university procedures. Thirdly, dyslexics do not deserve their own forum, as there simply won't be enough demand for threads pertaining solely to dyslexia, and because such things can be posted in general forums and then answered by one of the dyslexic members of the forum.

Instead of arguing against me, why don't you tell us why you need a disabled students forum? I don't see the point myself. But it seems quite clear to you. Enlighten me.

(By the way, I don't think Harry Potter should have its own forum either.)

Reply 21

generalebriety

http://www.hesa.ac.uk/pi/0405/dsa.htm

:smile:

37,030 full time undergraduates and 4,505 part time undergraduates recieving DSA.

Figures for students who don't claim/recieve DSA but do recieve DLA or another disability benefit aren't available, figures for postgraduate students aren't available. Although there are 64,000 16-19 yr olds currently in reciept of DLA and 68,000 20-24 yr olds http://www.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd1/dla/dla_quarterly_statistics_feb05.asp which I reckon works out at a max of around a 25% participation rate in HE against a national average of 45%.

Given the sorts of barriers that disabled applicants face when looking to go to uni (eg) the main barriers are lack of information and a feeling of isolation - two things that TSR is well placed to help out with - how we help out is still up for debate but it's certainly not an area to be ignored (and an uber thread is NOT the most ideal way to provide the sort of information/advice needed in this case IMO). Anyone who's gone through the PITA that is applying for a student loan should take a look at the application process to recieve DLA or DSA some time...it's an absolute nightmare.

Surely this includes dyslexia and other related afflictions which don't really warrant an entire subforum? (What would the dyslexics here talk about, if not their bad spelling? :confused:

) I mean, I'm happy to admit I'm wrong and a subforum would be a really good idea, if that figure doesn't include dyslexia and other (relatively) minor afflictions, which aren't really disabilities in any "disabling" sense, but rather disorders.

Reply 22

Ethereal

generalebriety

Surely this includes dyslexia and other related afflictions which don't really warrant an entire subforum? (What would the dyslexics here talk about, if not their bad spelling? :confused:

How is dyslexia not a disability? The world relies on the written word, and if you take longer to comprehend something because the words don't sit still on the page you are at a disadvantage.

Do you actually know what any of the conditions you are talking about are?

Reply 23

generalebriety

Ethereal

Dyslexia is not a dis - ability. It doesn't disable you. People with dyslexia are not unable to read and write. It may be an affliction, a hindrance, maybe even a disorder, but it's not a disability.

Stop being a patronising arse.

Reply 24

Ethereal

I'm resurecting this poll, because I don't think the issue has been resolved. It was argued by the moderation team at the time that server space was limited and demand was needed. However, since then they have added forums such as "have your say" which I would argue adds nothing to the site as we already have D&D. Space clearly isn't SO much of an issue if the mods are happy to encourage people insulting each other's opinions over latest news events.

I set up a Disabled Students Soc, but it is limited in what it can do because you can't post threads in there. Also, it is hidden away in the fast moving parts of the board so it is easy for people to miss.

If TSR is passionate about being a student resource, I have to ask why nothing is being done to support disabled students and giving them the information they need to help them access support in their educational lives?

I would hazard a guess that most of the "no" votes so far have been by students who don't have a disability and so don't have any knowledge of the issues disabled students face. Please don't vote "no" just because you're not disabled and so do not need this service.

Help me convince the mods we need a subforum.

Reply 25

TSR Community Staff

I would guess that such a forum would give rise to a number of threads which would end up being useful resources on disabled issues. Such threads may be lost and fragmented apart elsewhere on the forum and perhaps may not even get started: a dedicated forum would encourage the creation of further discussion.

These threads could then easily be transferred across to the wiki to improve the depth of information over there. Currently I don't think we have much on disabilities, dealing with disabilities as students, independent living,what sort of facilities/help/assistance one should expect at uni and what each uni already does.

All of that stuff would easily propagate in a dedicated disabled student forum, as well as the forum offering a place for disabled students to chat with each other, gain support, find out information and for non-disabled students to gain a deeper understanding of the issues and ideas surround this topic.

Reply 26

Craghyrax

One of the biggest challenges facing an enormous amount of disabled people is a difficulty with breaking information down. Practically speaking, this means that if a disabled person comes onto TSR looking for some kind of support and it isn't clearly visible straightaway, they are likely to become disorientated and overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information to search through. I cannot emphasize strongly enough how real a barrier this is. A Disabled Student Soc thread is not enough to reach the students that would need it most. This is the sort of issue that several disabled students require support and assistance over, when facing simple tasks such as researching for essays! They shouldn't need support workers to find out relevent info on TSR!
Info for Disabled students won't be accessible to them unless a subforum is created.
This shouldn't be about how many posts the subforum is likely to attract. The point is that TSR cannot effectively assist disabled students without such a subforum.

Reply 27

omicronlyrae

i vote yes, this idea sounds absolutely wonderful.

Reply 28

Ethereal

Ideally I want to get this set up ready for summer when people are starting to worry about going away to uni.

Reply 29

Craghyrax

Sooner. People will be needing to apply for DSAs and things from next month.

Reply 30

Ethereal

Craghyrax

Sooner. People will be needing to apply for DSAs and things from next month.

Indeed they do

Reply 31

wackysparkle

After reading this thread through - I firmly believe that this is a very good idea.
And for those who said that dyslexia isn't considered as being a disability you are very wrong,

I believe the first words my lecturers told me was that if anyone had any form of dyslexia they should contact that dyslexia centre - yes that's right, they have a centre for it - They informed us that there is a high percentage of students with dyslexia on my course [architecture] alone.
If this is only my course, I can most certainly imagine how many students there must be in my entire university

Dyslexia is one of many disabilities that students face.
Disabilities come in many forms, dyslexia is only one of them.
Ethereal is right, some students feel embarassed about it, and some struggle. There are students on my course who struggle to keep a sketchbook as it is just too much for them to handle.

If we had a sub-forum that had leaders who were able to advise them and help them out it would be beneficial, as they will have more confidence in themselves. And even better, if there were contact details available for them.

And yes! i do believe that TSR seems to be concerning themselves with sub-forums that are just quite low in importance in comparison to issues like these, like the Harry Potter section? and the have your say section [ this is just a machine that produces threads?], surely it is more beneficial to help people rather than just create sections just because....?

Reply 32

Lil' Miss Smiley

A good idea.

I am sure disabled users would find the whole of the forum useful. However a seperate forum where people could pose questions regarding issues they have would be a good idea, especially if folk with informed advice were there to give it and it was not abused.

Maybe with lots of links to external sites specific to problems such as Dyslexia etc.

Reply 33

Craghyrax

wesetters

I'd support the idea in principle, but users posting in there might miss out on useful advice that they'd get if they posted in the main fora.

Not if helpful people in the subforum posted links to other useful threads around TSR and recommended they look around, which they would!

Reply 34

Lil' Miss Smiley

wesetters

I'd support the idea in principle, but users posting in there might miss out on useful advice that they'd get if they posted in the main fora.

I think the idea should just be for help and advice on things to do with their disability and not on the course/degree or whatever they are particpating in or for a chat. There are other forums for this and this sort of forum would have to be tightly ran and monitored.

Reply 35

Craghyrax

wesetters

I mean that very experienced people would be less likely to respond in there than in the main forum.

But you'd have very experienced people dedicated to helping out on that subforum!

Overall its not going to cause any problems having such a subforum, whereas its going to do quite a large amount of people alot of good!

People looking for help will find it hard to get anywhere on the main fora because of their disabilities.. or they might not even be aware that the support is there! That's probably the biggest reason why demand isn't apparent.

Reply 36

F1 fanatic

I'm not sure, it really does depend on whether there is the demand for it. Whether it is ethically good to have is kind of beside the point if it then isn't used. I don't know what the usage is, it depends how crowded any disabled students soc is. Not being disabled I don't know how many things there are to discuss, but I would have thought it would be fairly limited. Perhaps, rather than asking us, you should be asking those that would use it whether they want and would benefit from such a forum. If they really have a use for it then sure, why not.

Reply 37

wackysparkle

surely if you have a seperate forum entitled: disabled student sub-forum , people will know of its existence and hence use it!

Reply 38

Nefarious

wackysparkle

surely if you have a seperate forum entitled: disabled student sub-forum , people will know of its existence and hence use it!

Not if the people who would use it don't use TSR.

Reply 39

Ethereal

Nefarious

Not if the people who would use it don't use TSR.

We'll never know until we try will we? Let's face it, any one of the members on here could have a disability as defined under the DDA and you'd never know. Maybe more TSR members are disabled than not. Maybe less. Who knows?

The point is, we have other subforums that are incredibly niche and arguable a lot less use. A disabled student sub-forum would allow all disability realted issues to be kept together and therefore allow easier access.

I'm quite sure the arguments you raise against this could be applied to a number of sub-forums.