Disability support review Uni of Glasgow
Hiya, I know many of you are deciding on which uni to go for and if you're like me disability support is a massive factor in that decision.
Well, I'm an autistic student studying at the Uni of Glasgow and can say with total honesty the Uni have been outstanding with disability support from day 1. Honestly the uni have been so supportive and amazing with everything I've had to ask myself
"wait, they understand? I don't have to fight for my rights here?"
Truly, nothing is too big or too small for them. The Disabilty Service have your back at Glasgow Uni.
Specific examples:
- the department were more than happy to meet me before I'd even applied to uni and talk through all my questions and worries. I really recommend talking to them.
- I was provided a National Autistic Society autism mentor who has been amazing from day 1.
- the equipment I've been able to get through the disability service has been life changing. I was amazed equipment existed that could help me but it does and its bloody magical!
- I've had to claim 'good cause' (the unis circumstances thing for if you miss exams cos of sickness, meltdowns etc) several times in my studies including for autistic meltdowns alone and have never had any issues. The disability service have been fantastic at responding and drafting necessary letters.
- The Disability Service Safeguarding team were brilliant when I was discriminated against on campus
- They can meet you both in person and online over MS Teams
Where problems arise with the disability service its generally because:
- you haven't registered in time. There are deadlines to get support in place before exams so get your disabilty service registration in early. I can't stress this enough. The lecturers will also remind you of these deadlines, or should do. They will still see you if you're past the deadline but your assistive kit will be late (this happened to my friend, they'll still try to see you in the meantime). P.P.S this is the case with every uni, get your disability application in early
- you haven't told them you're in trouble. To get good cause you need to act quicky, good cause deadline is 5 days after the exam so make sure you tell the disability service ASAP if your condition has caused you to miss an exam/deadline/assesment.
I hope this helps and good luck! Feel free to ask me any questions about my experience in the comments below I'll do what I can to help
Well, I'm an autistic student studying at the Uni of Glasgow and can say with total honesty the Uni have been outstanding with disability support from day 1. Honestly the uni have been so supportive and amazing with everything I've had to ask myself
"wait, they understand? I don't have to fight for my rights here?"
Truly, nothing is too big or too small for them. The Disabilty Service have your back at Glasgow Uni.
Specific examples:
- the department were more than happy to meet me before I'd even applied to uni and talk through all my questions and worries. I really recommend talking to them.
- I was provided a National Autistic Society autism mentor who has been amazing from day 1.
- the equipment I've been able to get through the disability service has been life changing. I was amazed equipment existed that could help me but it does and its bloody magical!
- I've had to claim 'good cause' (the unis circumstances thing for if you miss exams cos of sickness, meltdowns etc) several times in my studies including for autistic meltdowns alone and have never had any issues. The disability service have been fantastic at responding and drafting necessary letters.
- The Disability Service Safeguarding team were brilliant when I was discriminated against on campus
- They can meet you both in person and online over MS Teams
Where problems arise with the disability service its generally because:
- you haven't registered in time. There are deadlines to get support in place before exams so get your disabilty service registration in early. I can't stress this enough. The lecturers will also remind you of these deadlines, or should do. They will still see you if you're past the deadline but your assistive kit will be late (this happened to my friend, they'll still try to see you in the meantime). P.P.S this is the case with every uni, get your disability application in early
- you haven't told them you're in trouble. To get good cause you need to act quicky, good cause deadline is 5 days after the exam so make sure you tell the disability service ASAP if your condition has caused you to miss an exam/deadline/assesment.
I hope this helps and good luck! Feel free to ask me any questions about my experience in the comments below I'll do what I can to help
Hey thank you so much for this, it's really helpful especially as someone who is considering between other universities and Glasgow and is also autistic! Can I ask what course you are currently studying and do you know how supportive they are for chronic illnesses?
Original post by Anonymous
Hey thank you so much for this, it's really helpful especially as someone who is considering between other universities and Glasgow and is also autistic! Can I ask what course you are currently studying and do you know how supportive they are for chronic illnesses?
Hello! Aye I do Microbiology and the life sciences lecturers have been pretty great understanding wise. No lecturers have ever given me any trouble disability wise.
I'm not sure about chronic illnesses but if it's anything to go by when I registered with the disability service they assumed I wanted to do lectures from home. They were like "ok, and we can add you want to take lectures from home -" and I had to be like "no no I want to do lectures in person please!" 😂 So I reckon you'll be fine.
Also we have a lovely neurodiversity society at the uni of Glasgow! You'll find them at Freshers fair 😀 it's where autistic, ADHD, dyslexic, neurodivergent etc people meet for coffee, play games, draw art, we even went to a neurodivergent friendly pub last year 😀
Hi! i am going in to the university of glasgow and was wondering if you knew anyone who got help for mental health conditions and what help they provided?
Original post by Anonymous
Hi! i am going in to the university of glasgow and was wondering if you knew anyone who got help for mental health conditions and what help they provided?
Hiya, I've had mental health issues as well as autism and the uni have been very supportive. You would register for CAPS (Glasgow uni counselling and psychological services) and I'm guessing you're talking about a long term condition in which case you'd also register for the Disability service.
They can give you extended deadlines to submit assignments, different exam arrangements, let you study lectures from home so you don't have to go on campus, and my friend who has anxiety was able to give a mandatory group presentation in a separate room with different arrangements to the rest of the class so they didn't have to stand in front of a big audience. And both are very helpful with good cause applications (the Unis extenuating circumstances system, i.e illness, an MH episode, autistic meltdown affects exams for example)
I was very wary of CAPS when my autism mentor first referred me to it but I found the support to be helpful. I was an urgent case and they saw me quickly. You can self refer or have another person refer you. They gave me 10 sessions of psychotherapy for free and theres a good selection of therapies. You can ask to see a male or female therapist. You can also re refer into CAPS so it's not like '10 sessions and that's it' if your issues are ongoing after a couple months they will see you again. I do know other people who have had mixed experiences of CAPS but mine has been positive. You can also change therapist if you don't get on with the first one.
For writing good cause letters and arranging support the disability service tend to be better at that, but CAPS have been helpful for my mental health episode and I haven't had a recurrence of symptoms.
Also - they understand SAD well, so if you have that make sure you get the help you need if you need it.
Original post by Anonymous
Hi! i am going in to the university of glasgow and was wondering if you knew anyone who got help for mental health conditions and what help they provided?
Oh! Forgot to mention, you can also get a mental health mentor from both services. They help you if you have mental health issues to stay on track with your deadlines and to check in with you every week, be a listening ear and can also write good cause letters and advocate for you if you ever have trouble with the lecturers (which I doubt you will, mine have been great). They can also get you a study skills mentor too
Thank you this is very helpful!!
Original post by Sparklygreentea
Hiya, I know many of you are deciding on which uni to go for and if you're like me disability support is a massive factor in that decision.
Well, I'm an autistic student studying at the Uni of Glasgow and can say with total honesty the Uni have been outstanding with disability support from day 1. Honestly the uni have been so supportive and amazing with everything I've had to ask myself
"wait, they understand? I don't have to fight for my rights here?"
Truly, nothing is too big or too small for them. The Disabilty Service have your back at Glasgow Uni.
Specific examples:
- the department were more than happy to meet me before I'd even applied to uni and talk through all my questions and worries. I really recommend talking to them.
- I was provided a National Autistic Society autism mentor who has been amazing from day 1.
- the equipment I've been able to get through the disability service has been life changing. I was amazed equipment existed that could help me but it does and its bloody magical!
- I've had to claim 'good cause' (the unis circumstances thing for if you miss exams cos of sickness, meltdowns etc) several times in my studies including for autistic meltdowns alone and have never had any issues. The disability service have been fantastic at responding and drafting necessary letters.
- The Disability Service Safeguarding team were brilliant when I was discriminated against on campus
- They can meet you both in person and online over MS Teams
Where problems arise with the disability service its generally because:
- you haven't registered in time. There are deadlines to get support in place before exams so get your disabilty service registration in early. I can't stress this enough. The lecturers will also remind you of these deadlines, or should do. They will still see you if you're past the deadline but your assistive kit will be late (this happened to my friend, they'll still try to see you in the meantime). P.P.S this is the case with every uni, get your disability application in early
- you haven't told them you're in trouble. To get good cause you need to act quicky, good cause deadline is 5 days after the exam so make sure you tell the disability service ASAP if your condition has caused you to miss an exam/deadline/assesment.
I hope this helps and good luck! Feel free to ask me any questions about my experience in the comments below I'll do what I can to help
Well, I'm an autistic student studying at the Uni of Glasgow and can say with total honesty the Uni have been outstanding with disability support from day 1. Honestly the uni have been so supportive and amazing with everything I've had to ask myself
"wait, they understand? I don't have to fight for my rights here?"
Truly, nothing is too big or too small for them. The Disabilty Service have your back at Glasgow Uni.
Specific examples:
- the department were more than happy to meet me before I'd even applied to uni and talk through all my questions and worries. I really recommend talking to them.
- I was provided a National Autistic Society autism mentor who has been amazing from day 1.
- the equipment I've been able to get through the disability service has been life changing. I was amazed equipment existed that could help me but it does and its bloody magical!
- I've had to claim 'good cause' (the unis circumstances thing for if you miss exams cos of sickness, meltdowns etc) several times in my studies including for autistic meltdowns alone and have never had any issues. The disability service have been fantastic at responding and drafting necessary letters.
- The Disability Service Safeguarding team were brilliant when I was discriminated against on campus
- They can meet you both in person and online over MS Teams
Where problems arise with the disability service its generally because:
- you haven't registered in time. There are deadlines to get support in place before exams so get your disabilty service registration in early. I can't stress this enough. The lecturers will also remind you of these deadlines, or should do. They will still see you if you're past the deadline but your assistive kit will be late (this happened to my friend, they'll still try to see you in the meantime). P.P.S this is the case with every uni, get your disability application in early
- you haven't told them you're in trouble. To get good cause you need to act quicky, good cause deadline is 5 days after the exam so make sure you tell the disability service ASAP if your condition has caused you to miss an exam/deadline/assesment.
I hope this helps and good luck! Feel free to ask me any questions about my experience in the comments below I'll do what I can to help
hi! i know this is a old post but i just got an offer for glasgow and was wondering what it was like before you started in september. at the open day they said they will contact me after accepting the offer. do i have to do some sort of meeting or interview? thank you!!
Original post by Anonymous
hi! i know this is a old post but i just got an offer for glasgow and was wondering what it was like before you started in september. at the open day they said they will contact me after accepting the offer. do i have to do some sort of meeting or interview? thank you!!
In any event if you email the disability service and ask if you can come and chat to them about your course and ask questions I've found they were more than happy to do that informally!
TL;Dr - your 'official' disability service meeting where your SAAS funding is set up and any equipment you need is sourced won't happen until you have the official offer, but the disability service is more than happy for you to informally meet them to talk about concerns.
Parent here - good to know things have changed since nearly 30 years ago, when, like you, I contacted disability services in advance of choosing a university and the Glasgow University disability service was a single person in a room not much bigger than a broom cupboard. In comparison, Strathclyde Universities disability service was (and I believe still is) award winning.
Original post by Anonymous
Parent here - good to know things have changed since nearly 30 years ago, when, like you, I contacted disability services in advance of choosing a university and the Glasgow University disability service was a single person in a room not much bigger than a broom cupboard. In comparison, Strathclyde Universities disability service was (and I believe still is) award winning.
Interesting perspective - also wow, just one room 😳 accessibility still needs to improve for physical disabilities on campus but I never forget how good I have it now in society as a whole compared to even ten years ago.
In contrast to your experience I've not heard good things about Strathclyde university disability service sadly ☹️ - friends who studied at Strathclyde in 2022 have told me they had problems - getting autism adjustments denied, physical accessibility problems, issues getting equipment and what I found as well, difficult to contact the department. The Strathclyde disability team were hard to get hold of and weren't willing to meet with me before applying, which I guess they don't have to but to me it spoke volumes that Glasgow were so willing to meet and answer all my questions.
Feel free to reply if you have any more questions, happy to help
)Original post by Anonymous
Parent here - good to know things have changed since nearly 30 years ago, when, like you, I contacted disability services in advance of choosing a university and the Glasgow University disability service was a single person in a room not much bigger than a broom cupboard. In comparison, Strathclyde Universities disability service was (and I believe still is) award winning.
Hi, just to make it clear Glasgow Uni disability service is much bigger than a broom cupboard now lol 😂 it's a whole building on Southpark Avenue and they also have appointments in the Fraser building
Original post by Sparklygreentea
Interesting perspective - also wow, just one room 😳 accessibility still needs to improve for physical disabilities on campus but I never forget how good I have it now in society as a whole compared to even ten years ago.
In contrast to your experience I've not heard good things about Strathclyde university disability service sadly ☹️ - friends who studied at Strathclyde in 2022 have told me they had problems - getting autism adjustments denied, physical accessibility problems, issues getting equipment and what I found as well, difficult to contact the department. The Strathclyde disability team were hard to get hold of and weren't willing to meet with me before applying, which I guess they don't have to but to me it spoke volumes that Glasgow were so willing to meet and answer all my questions.
Feel free to reply if you have any more questions, happy to help)
In contrast to your experience I've not heard good things about Strathclyde university disability service sadly ☹️ - friends who studied at Strathclyde in 2022 have told me they had problems - getting autism adjustments denied, physical accessibility problems, issues getting equipment and what I found as well, difficult to contact the department. The Strathclyde disability team were hard to get hold of and weren't willing to meet with me before applying, which I guess they don't have to but to me it spoke volumes that Glasgow were so willing to meet and answer all my questions.
Feel free to reply if you have any more questions, happy to help
)Thanks for your perspectives, it’s really helpful
Does anyone else have experience of Strathclyde?
Disappointed to hear what you’d experienced as had initially thought about putting Strathclyde ahead of Glasgow.
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