Hi all I am an unconditional postgraduate offer holder for Durham this September (I graduated 2 years ago and had to defer my offer twice due to medical reasons) and I'm having a bit of a battle with disability services. I'm autistic and have a chronic pain disorder which leaves me with almost constant chest pain, which can limit how much I can do in a day especially with travelling. On very bad days I don't even leave my house because even just standing can be hard, and the more walking/physical exertion I do the worse my pain gets and the quicker I get tired out and have to lie down. I am waiting for a pain clinic referral to be actioned and considering private specialists but it's getting to the point that I might need to consider using a wheelchair if standing/walking is making my pain so bad. I am currently waiting on these to happen so don't have evidence yet, my current GP is dragging their feet about it and refusing requests to provide even just a letter confirming I have chronic chest pain.
I emailed them 2 weeks back and didn't get a response so I called them today and finally got through to someone who told me it will be several weeks currently for replies because of exam season.
I've filled out their form but it had a character limit on reasonable adjustments so I couldn't put down everything. When it got to the colleges bit it was focused entirely on students applying for university accommodation. I'm not eligible for university accommodation because I'm on the part time pathway, which is a direct adjustment because of my disability. I've found some private sector accommodation and have signed a contract so I will definitely have somewhere to live but not in college.
Part time PGs don't get to choose their college, they automatically get allocated to one of six potential colleges (Hatfield/Aidans/Marys/Mildert/Snow/Trevs) and it's really stressing me out because Hatfield/Aidans are potential colleges and they're really inaccessible (I have a friend who went to Durham and confirmed they're very difficult). The colleges were the absolute reason I chose Durham because of the community within each one and it would devastate me if I couldn't access the libraries/communal areas the same as everyone else. It is probably in my best interest to be assigned to a more modern college to allow me the same level of access as everyone else. I had a look on the university's AccessAble and it looks like Snow/Trevs are the most appropriate (Mildert coming in third).
The lady from the disability office said that any adjustment I request has to go in front of an independent panel to get approval and couldn't confirm if any of those people actually work in the disability office, and she said it's done without my presence so they won't even meet me to discuss this. This could also be weeks down the line.
Does anyone have any advice regarding this? I'm really concerned that there is a decent chance I will be allocated to a college where I will be very unhappy and feel excluded because of the accessibility aspect of it.