Disclosing disability

The Equality Act 2010 defines a disabled person as someone who has a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.

The University of Leeds is committed to supporting students and staff who:

• are deaf or hard of hearing
• are blind or partially-sighted
• have a physical disability, and/or mobility difficulties
• have a specific learning difficulty (for example, dyslexia or dyspraxia)
• have a developmental learning or behavioural condition (for example, AD[H]D)
• have an autism spectrum condition (for example, Asperger Syndrome)
• have a mental health condition
• have a long-term medical condition (for example, chronic fatigue syndrome, asthma, epilepsy, diabetes, cancer from the point of diagnosis, HIV)
• have a combination of these.

How and when does the University find out about a student’s disability?

Information about a student’s disability is held on Banner and can be accessed by those with appropriate access. Remember that some students may choose not to disclose their disability at all.

Disclosure during the admissions process 

To enable the most appropriate support to be put in place, students are encouraged to disclose their disability when they apply to study at the University. If an applicant discloses at this stage, Disability Services sends them information about the support they may be entitled to and the sources of funding for that support. We encourage the student to make contact with DSAS so that we can start to work with them.

If a student applies for Disabled Students' Allowance (DSA) and has an assessment of need, the school disability contact is sent a copy of the assessment.  This can be shared with those who have responsibility for supporting that student.

If a student makes contact with DSAS and there is information that needs to be shared, with the permission of the student the Disability Coordinator will contact an appropriate person in the academic school.

Disclosure after registration 

Students can also disclose at any point during their studies by informing someone in their school or the DSAS team. For a variety of reasons some students will choose not to disclose their disability.

If a student discloses a disability to you, you should encourage them to visit DSAS. 

Leeds undergraduate students progressing to postgraduate study 

If a student completed their undergraduate studies at Leeds and then applies for postgraduate study here, the University may have information on file about that student. This will not automatically be picked up unless the student discloses their disability during the postgraduate admissions process.