Visually-impaired student challenges DSA failings

A visually-impaired student has written to MPs to highlight what she describes as the poor delivery of Disabiled Students' Allowance (DSA) at her university.

Tilly Gerra, who was born with under-developed eyes, is studying multimedia journalism at the University of Northampton and requires support, including orienteering assistance, a braille printer and note-takers, to help her navigate the campus.

Despite being awarded DSA in September, the 20-year-old from Milton Keynes said she had encountered significant issues including being assigned a guide unfamiliar with the campus layout, uncertainty over the provision of other support services, and being overcharged for her laptop.

The Student Loans Company (SLC,) said it apologised to Ms Gerra for the issues she had experienced in receiving her DSA support.

DSA is intended to help students with disabilities, long-term health conditions, or mental health issues by covering study-related costs.

This includes funding for specialist equipment, non-medical helpers, and additional travel expenses.

Ms Gerra only started receiving the support she was entitled to on 27 January - four months after her course began.

She said she had been phoning Student Finance England several times a week to try to resolve the delays, describing the process as "stressful" and "exhausting".

She also expressed frustration with the private companies responsible for providing DSA support, saying they were slow to respond, dismissive of her concerns, and lacked adequate training.

Due to the lack of orienteering assistance, Ms Gerra has been relying on her mother for mobility support.

"My assessor didn't know a lot about visual impairment," she said.

"They should liaise with universities to begin with to find out a rough estimate of how many hours of support a student needs because different courses require different aspects of support.

"The whole system is designed for students not to use it, and I don't think it should be like that. I'd like to change it.

"If I didn't have anyone, I'd just have to wander and find things out, which I sort of have been doing. It's a really stressful and uncertain position to be in."

She believed the failings of the system undermined the purpose of DSA, which was "designed to bridge the equality gap in education - an education you are paying for - and yet it can't be delivered properly by a government service".

"It's pretty sad," she said.

Ms Gerra has now written to several MPs, including her local one, Emily Darlington, as well as disability minister Sir Stephen Timms, the UK's only blind MP, Steve Darling, and Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson.

In a statement, a SLC spokesperson said: "Together with our supplier, Study Tech, we apologise to Miss Gerra for the issues she has experienced in receiving her DSA support.

"We are committed to delivering the best experience possible to our customers. The issues with Miss Gerra's technology equipment and on-campus support have been rectified and we will continue to engage with Mis Gerra to ensure she has everything she needs.

"We are closely monitoring processing times and working with our suppliers to ensure customers receive their support as quickly as possible."

A University of Northampton spokesperson said: "We're sorry to hear of the struggles Tilly has had with obtaining her Disability Support Allowance through Student Finance England, which is managed separately to the university.

"We continue to keep in close contact with Tilly through her academic support team and our suite of disability support services - which includes our dedicated 24/7 Additional Student Support and Inclusion Services Team (Assist) – to ensure there is as minimal impact on her studies as possible."