Disabled Students Allowance and Other Financial Support
If you have a long standing mental health problem then you may be surprised to know that you are classified as disabled. This means you can access financial and advisory support.
What is Disabled Students' Allowance?
At university your LEA can support you financial through what is called a Disabled Students' Allowance(DSA). These can provide things like a computer for you to work from home, cover your internet costs and printing costs. If you struggle to leave the house or take longer to do your reading for example, you may get bus fares refunded or a book allowance respectively. I found this hugely helpful at uni. I was also provided with a learning mentor who met me weekly to help me plan my work schedule. You may also be able to have a note taker in lessons if you are unable to attend.
So how do I apply?
To apply you will need to go and see your Disabled and Dyslexic Student Services(DDSS) department, at Sheffield Uni this is called the Hillsborough Centre and can be found in the Biology Building. With suitable medical evidence they will contact your LEA(Local Education Authority) and ask them to pay for an assessment of your learning needs. In Sheffield these assessments take place at either Hallam Uni or Castle College, which is one tram stop past the train station. They will recommend what may be helpful to you and pass their recommendations back to the LEA who will order your equipment and direct the DDSS to make arrangements for mentors or note takers.
What other financial support may be available to me?
If you are severely hindered from carrying out day to day activities by your mental health issues, such as being unable to cook(I had no appetite and when trying to cook would often end up burning everything) you may wish to apply for a government benefit called Disability Living Allowance. This is given out in 2 parts, a care element and a mobility element. Your eligibility is based on how much help you need, not how much you get so even if you don't employ a carer you can still get the care component. Mine ended up on my huge phone bills from when I needed someone to talk to if I got upset and things like that. It is designed to let you manage your own life so you can spend it in anyway that will help you cope. Again medical evidence is required, they may send a doctor of their own to assess you and the form is quite large. An adviser from the Student Advice Centre helped me fill out mine. Also, this benefit will not affect your loan.
Counselling, health services and prescriptions.
The university offer a counselling service besides those with the NHS. As they belong to the university the counselors are familiar with student issues and are generally fab. The only problem I found was that I was often too ill to leave the house and they don't do home visits.
It 's important to register with the University Health Service if you haven't already done so. Mental health needs to be monitored and it's easier to sort out your prescriptions than having to keep going home. At Sheffield Uni Health Service Dr Alison James is the doctor with most interest in mental health and if you need some TLC then Dr Jackson is lovely too. They can refer you to the usual NHS mental health services in the city, such as psychiatrists, social workers etc
It comes to a shock to a lot of people(including medical professionals) that unlike pensioners, students do not automatically qualify for free prescriptions. You must apply for a certificate of eligibility with an HC1 form which is available from SSID or your GP. Unfortunately they count your loan as income so if you have any savings you probably won't be eligible, but make sure you try just in case. If you are not eligible for free prescriptions then you can get pre-payment certificates(just tap it into google and you can order online), this way you pay a certain amount up front for 3 months prescriptions. If you time them right or need more than one set of drugs per month it works out cheaper than buying each prescription seperately. I usually ask for 2 packs of pills before my certificate runs out to get the best value out of my certificate(which is a little blue card).
Academic Support
If your allocated personal tutor is a knob then get a new one! It is really important that you get along because they should be your first stop for academic problems. Your department secretaries should be able to help you swap to one of your favourite lecturers. I ended up with lots of supportive lecturers because I was very open about my condition. One or two were rude and unsympathetic but that's their problem, most were kind. But then, that's why I chose Sheffield, the people are great here.
The DDSS can also request library support, you can have someone find your books for you if the library atmosphere is too much or get lift access and a card saying you are entitled to extra support.
As a disabled person you are entitled to extensions if you need them. But make sure you discuss everything with your personal tutor. If you were going through particularly rough times during particular assessments you can submit a Special Circumstances form(ask at your department office) so the tutors can take this into account when they amalgamate your marks.
The key is always to keep people informed, they can't help if they don't know.