Not enough is done for disabled students.

I agreed with you until the bolded part.

I have dyspraxia. It affects me quite severely and I cannot take notes. I need a laptop to do this. It is more than just finding it hard to write. I have illegible handwriting, very slow handwriting and it takes all my attention to write anything.

Recording lectures and writing them up later would take about five or six hours for every hour of lecture. That is unsustainable.

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nice troll 0/10.


Okay....

Yeah that is what I have too.

Do you also hold a pen different to other people?

Yes. It got picked up on my diagnosis.

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Yes I'm sure that walking into a classroom with a laptop because your disability makes you unable to write and being stared at by all of your class peers means I have it easier.

You need a reality check mate.

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No just annoyed.

In US they get 50% extra tiem for ADHD.

I have multiple disabilites and only get 25%.

Such a disgrace.

Also, I shouldn't have to pay £200 for laptop, should be provided free. And also it has low specs omg.

You'd need a laptop whether you were disabled or not.

I'm afraid with the Tories more disability cuts are on their way.

Best thing you can do if your genuinely disadvantaged is e-beg. That is what the genuinely disabled are being forced to do.

Anita Sarkeesian whined about Geek Patriarchy and she got £100,000+

You seem to have a lot going for you in the terms of your privilege in the progressive stack system. Your Female & Disabled but wait a minute you have a Japanese name. Best hide that because the progressives won't like the fact that your Asian. That is almost as bad as being White.

But anyway play the victim and your get your £200 easy enough.

Go here.
https://www.gofundme.com/

I love Japan. Are you from there? I want a Japanese Rice Cooker! Lazy Mans best friend!

Remember to whine excessively like this lady in the video. Go to 1 min 58 seconds. Make Sad face. Sad face remember!

[video="youtube;W-H1dMakvSo"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-H1dMakvSo[/video]



Waves at OU Student. Mate I might be getting banned off this website soon. I will have to make a post on the OU general board so we can keep in touch.

you don't get £200 you have to pay £200 for a laptop

Do you have a laptop now by the way?

atm yep

Doesn't everyone

Not quite. Laptops are okay for Low Power usage but are rubbish for proper computing.

Yes but the laptop people would get isn't going to be a gaming one, it would be low specs and barely be able to have 3 tabs of chrome

If you don't want the laptop they have on offer to you, I'm pretty sure you can either ask for an upgrade, or buy your own completely. I bought my own laptop for university because I knew I wouldn't be happy with the one DSA would have provided for me at the time. Having said that, they will only be providing the basics, why should they give you a gaming laptop (or anything high-spec in general, really)? You shouldn't expect that. They're supposed to give you what you need to actually access your course, no more. As I, and multiple other people in this thread have already said, it's to put you on a level playing field with other students who don't have a disability.

Buying your own is not an option for many students. They are very expensive and not everyone has £600 sitting in their bank account.

If the laptop is of such poor quality that you can't access the course fully, it is not putting you on a level playing field. One that fails to run all of Microsoft office, a decent browser, mind mapping software and any other necessary programmes for that individual with that specific disability is not fit for purpose.

Some people require special keyboards so that they can actually type. I need the keys spaced quite widely otherwise I constantly make typing errors. These cost far more.

It also needs to have a long battery life so that you can go an entire day without having to charge the battery. Not every uni has plug sockets everywhere.

Posted from TSR Mobile

Buying your own is not an option for many students. They are very expensive and not everyone has £600 sitting in their bank account.

If the laptop is of such poor quality that you can't access the course fully, it is not putting you on a level playing field. One that fails to run all of Microsoft office, a decent browser, mind mapping software and any other necessary programmes for that individual with that specific disability is not fit for purpose.

Some people require special keyboards so that they can actually type. I need the keys spaced quite widely otherwise I constantly make typing errors. These cost far more.

It also needs to have a long battery life so that you can go an entire day without having to charge the battery. Not every uni has plug sockets everywhere.

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They will give you a laptop that has a long battery life, and depending on your disability they also have options for light-weight laptops as well (I was offered this). The point is they will give you something that does the job. So things like word processing, using the internet, using basic software will be allowed for (this includes any software you've been given from DSA - so mindmapping, proofreading, text to speech, speech to text, etc.). If you are doing a compsci course they might give you slightly different options (but I assume they will ask you to pay for this now). Same as if you're doing an art course they might give you other options. It is tailored to you and they will give you the bare minimum needed for your course. They won't leave you high and dry.

As for peripheral items like specialised keyboards (due to your disability) that will be given to you as it is a study requirement that is not found amongst the general student population (e.g. those without a disability). You won't have to pay for that.

I am fully aware that not everyone has money in the bank. But you can't have the latest and greatest. If you didn't have a disability you wouldn't have the latest and greatest either, some people don't have laptops/desktops at all at university. All DSA is doing is bridging the gap, they aren't there to give you high-spec. items. That's not their job.

It's the exact same logic for if you've been given a book allowance, they won't pay for set materials as this would give you an unfair advantage over the other students. They will only pay for extra books that you had to buy.

It's not about having the best, it's about the fact £200 is a lot of money for some people. They say it has to be paid all in one go and not in installments. That seems totally unreasonable to me.

I live in one of the most deprived areas of the country. The child poverty rate is ridiculously high. Nobody has £200 sitting in a bank. Least of all teenagers about to go to uni. Expecting everyone to be able to pay that much in one go is utterly ridiculous. A lot of people can't.

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And what would happen if you weren't disabled? You'd have to stump up more cash to get a decent laptop.

Which could potentially be bought on credit.Posted from TSR Mobile