DSA needs assessors
Information for those conducting a Disabled Students' Allowance (DSA) needs assessment.
Course information
Courses are run by academic schools and research centres, spread across six faculties. Search for undergraduate course information or postgraduate course information.
For more information about course requirements, contact the relevant School Disability Coordinator.
Study support
The University has a range of support services, resources and practical advice for all students. We provide advice and services to support health and wellbeing.
We also provide specialist study support for disabled students.
Library accessibility and support
The Library provides a range of accessibility and support services. If you do not find the information you need, contact the Library Support Team.
Software and assistive software/technology
Once registered, all students can get Office 365 for free. Guidance on the accessibility features of Office 365 and other free software is also available.
Read and Write and Mindview can be accessed on networked computers.
Glean, Textaid and Ayoa are available for 3 months for students applying for DSA. Students need to speak to the Disability team who can arrange access.
We cannot guarantee this software for the length of a student’s course. The student should have software to meet their individual needs provided through DSA.
The Library has an assistive technology (AT) room in the Arts and Social Sciences Library. This may benefit students with complex needs. For further information, contact the Library Support Team.
If providing students with a device to audio record lectures, for example Glean, Caption.Ed or Dictaphone, students should be made aware of our Recording Education Activity Policy, which explains what they are allowed them to record with consent.
DSAs £200 equipment contribution
Students contribute the first £200 towards DSAs-funded equipment. If this contribution would put them in financial hardship, signpost them to Disability Services.
Means-tested help may be available. Students whose family income is greater than £42,875 will not receive help.
Postgraduate research students are eligible for a University Managed Device to complete research and store data securely. Check that the student has a University Managed Device allocated or encourage them to approach their school.
Due to using a University Of Bristol Managed Device only approved software can be installed and used with MFA set up on the software to meet Cyber Security Regulations. The software we currently have approved are:
- Glean
- Textaid
- Ayoa
- Dragon
- TalkType
- Study Pro
- Booost
- FindMyFlow
- Grammarly (without access to Generative AI).
If for any reason the student needs to use their own personal device, they will need enrol their personal device into university management and set it up to minimum working regulations. The regulations can be found in section 3of the Mobile and remote working policy.
Lecture capture (Re/Play)
Our central lecture capture platform is called Re/Play.
Re/Play recordings are subtitled using automatic captioning software.
These recordings can be:
- manually captioned for improved accuracy for students who are hearing impaired
- 'Authored', which means adding descriptions to images and figures to support visually impaired students.
Signpost students who may need captioning or authoring to Disability Services.
Re/Play is not available in all teaching venues and is not always used. We recommend that students are equipped with an alternative, DSAs-funded note-taking solution.
Access to buildings and facilities
Check University of Bristol access guides on AccessAble. If you do not find the information you need, contact the School Disability Coordinator.
Preferred non-medical help (NMH) supplier
Our preferred NMH supplier is Amano.