DSA and mental illness

I applied for university last year but had to withdraw because of how things were. I am applying again this year but have a few questions that I didn’t get answers for the last time around.

Most universities I visited at open days had some sort of mental health support through the university but all of them spoke to me about the DSA. I don’t really feel like anyone explained it so I was wondering if you folks could help?

Realistically, what could the DSA do for me as a person with mental health issues?

I know that it’s how I would get exam arrangements but I’m really worried about getting other support at university. Am I even entitled to more support?

I know from a bit of research that they provide things based on how your illness affects your education. For me, it causes a lot of problems, but I’m not really sure how they could help?

It causes problems for attendance, concentration, motivation and things like that but I feel like all of those things are my personal responsibility? I’m not really sure how any of those things could be helped?

I’m not sure if this was a coherent post.

Essentially, I’m wondering what I could be offered to help manage my mental health issues? If you’ve applied for the DSA because of mental health issues, how did it work? what did they help with? What was the process like?

Also, I know that there’s a needs assessment. I’m wondering how that is? Is it one of those things where they try and catch you out so they can offer you as little as they can or no?

I’m not really sure. Thank you in advance. Sorry about the messiness and the 6385726394 questions.

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It causes problems for attendance, concentration, motivation and things like that but I feel like all of those things are my personal responsibility? I’m not really sure how any of those things could be helped?

I applied for university last year but had to withdraw because of how things were. I am applying again this year but have a few questions that I didn’t get answers for the last time around.

Most universities I visited at open days had some sort of mental health support through the university but all of them spoke to me about the DSA. I don’t really feel like anyone explained it so I was wondering if you folks could help?

Realistically, what could the DSA do for me as a person with mental health issues?

I know that it’s how I would get exam arrangements but I’m really worried about getting other support at university. Am I even entitled to more support?

I know from a bit of research that they provide things based on how your illness affects your education. For me, it causes a lot of problems, but I’m not really sure how they could help?

It causes problems for attendance, concentration, motivation and things like that but I feel like all of those things are my personal responsibility? I’m not really sure how any of those things could be helped?

I’m not sure if this was a coherent post.

Essentially, I’m wondering what I could be offered to help manage my mental health issues? If you’ve applied for the DSA because of mental health issues, how did it work? what did they help with? What was the process like?

Also, I know that there’s a needs assessment. I’m wondering how that is? Is it one of those things where they try and catch you out so they can offer you as little as they can or no?

I’m not really sure. Thank you in advance. Sorry about the messiness and the 6385726394 questions.

X

I applied for university last year but had to withdraw because of how things were. I am applying again this year but have a few questions that I didn’t get answers for the last time around.

Most universities I visited at open days had some sort of mental health support through the university but all of them spoke to me about the DSA. I don’t really feel like anyone explained it so I was wondering if you folks could help?

Realistically, what could the DSA do for me as a person with mental health issues?

I know that it’s how I would get exam arrangements but I’m really worried about getting other support at university. Am I even entitled to more support?

I know from a bit of research that they provide things based on how your illness affects your education. For me, it causes a lot of problems, but I’m not really sure how they could help?

It causes problems for attendance, concentration, motivation and things like that but I feel like all of those things are my personal responsibility? I’m not really sure how any of those things could be helped?

I’m not sure if this was a coherent post.

Essentially, I’m wondering what I could be offered to help manage my mental health issues? If you’ve applied for the DSA because of mental health issues, how did it work? what did they help with? What was the process like?

Also, I know that there’s a needs assessment. I’m wondering how that is? Is it one of those things where they try and catch you out so they can offer you as little as they can or no?

I’m not really sure. Thank you in advance. Sorry about the messiness and the 6385726394 questions.

It will depend on the nature of your illness but the DSA pays for things like specialist equipment (less relevant for mental health conditions but this does include things like note-taking software) and more importantly, 1:1 specialist mentoring. Some students qualify for a note-taker to take notes for them in lectures.

Obviously, this isn't going to solve your problems but it should hopefully make them more manageable in the context of a university environment. You do have a personal responsibility to attend and concentrate to the best of your ability. If your ability to do that is hindered by your disability then universities have to make reasonable adjustments to help you, and that's where those DSA benefits come in. If you think attendance is going to be a big issue then it's potentially also worth checking if any of the departments you've applied to record lectures, because an increasing number do (which might help you a lot).

Fortunately, the DSA needs assessment seems to have escaped the government's attempts to make benefit assessments as cruel as possible. It's actually carried out in a very positive way and it's not there to see if you need the DSA (since, presumably, you already have a medical diagnosis) but rather to find out what kind of support you could benefit from. It's a very constructive meeting and I don't think I've spoken to anybody who feels they've had a bad experience with it.