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Help your student succeed by referring students with access requirements to the Accessibility Service and respecting the right to disclose information about their disability and/or medical condition.
Why refer a student to the Accessibility Service
The Accessibility Service is the central point to provide access information to students. When a student informs any staff member of a disability or access requirement/s the onus is on the University to reasonably accommodate these requirements (provide support and services). This means it is important to refer students to Accessibility Service to ensure they are provided with the opportunity to receive such information and choice for support and services.
Students who are registered with the Accessibility Service can access support and services to assist with their studies. This includes working with an Accessibility Consultant to help facilitate requests for reasonable adjustments and support to develop their own strategies and services like notetaking and assistive technology.
Who to refer to the Accessibility Service
Who should be referred to the Accessibility Service:
- Students who have made a Special Consideration application indicating an ongoing health condition or disability, or submit multiple applications based on the same health impact, who may benefit from registering with Accessibility rather than submitting multiple special consideration forms repeated each session.
- Following disclosure of disability and/or health condition during class or interactions with staff – check that student is aware of Accessibility Service and provide contact details.
Who should not be referred to the Accessibility Service:
- Students experiencing short term illness should use the Special Consideration process.
- Students who are pregnant or have carer responsibilities for a person with a disability, elderly or children should be referred directly to the Faculty ALO, even if they are registered with Accessibility Service. Further advice on support for Carers is available via the Counselling Service.
- Students who are experiencing personal circumstances that may result in disadvantage, rather than health or disability impacts, can be referred to the Counselling Service.
How to refer to the Accessibility Service
Staff can refer students to the Accessibility Service by:
- Providing Accessibility Service information for the student to follow up and make an appointment.
- Directly emailing Accessibility to reach out and offer support to the student.
The benefit of directly emailing Accessibility is that they will then actively follow up to reach the student and ensure they are offered the opportunity to access support, rather than leaving it as another task for the student to make an appointment.
- Use inclusive language by focusing on their access requirement rather than their disability/medical condition.
- Be mindful that the student might feel hesitant to be singled out so approach the student individually, ensuring a confidential space.
- It works best if a conversation with the student occurs prior to the referral. However, this is not always possible and so the Accessibility Consultant will explain the referral (e.g. “Your teacher made a referral in case you would like to access support”) which is often received well by students as a helpful approach.
Accessibility, Counselling or Financial Assistance
Accessibility, Counselling and Financial Assistance services work collaboratively and often work together to support students holistically. A referral can be made to either (or both) the Accessibility and Counselling service to determine a plan for reaching out to the student to offer support sequentially and/or link in with the other services. Such a referral can be made via email to Student Services.
Privacy, confidentiality and consent
Students may or may not choose to share their health information with others. depending on stigma, concerns about being treated differently or where they are at in relation to accepting a diagnosis and sharing such personal information, as well as any previous experiences. Most students are comfortable with their academic staff being informed about their impacts, access requirements and disability type e.g. mental health. As per legislation such information can only be shared with written consent. Most students do not want their disability shared with their peers, and staff should ensure this does not inadvertently occur via implementation of access requirements and communications.
Students you will be advised about
- Information is shared on a ‘need to know basis’ such as when there is a request or inclusive practice that is foreseeable or required for implementation in a subject.
- Exam Provision reports are available in CASS to see the exam provisions approved for students, enrolled in a subject.
- Subject Coordinators are informed about inclusive practices and likely requests through an Information to Academics notification sent via Access at the start of session. This depends on whether the student provides consent to or chooses this approach. It is suggested by Accessibility for students with more complex arrangements.
- Requests are made throughout the session.
Students may register with the Accessibility Service at any time throughout their studies for a range of reasons, including registrations towards the end of session once a student realises they do need assistance.
Students you won’t be advised about
- There is no list of students registered with Accessibility Service made available to Subject Coordinators, firstly because such data sources are not readily available at UTS for this to be provided.
- Students who do not approve information to be shared with the Subject Coordinator (this includes a limitation that requests/support cannot be implemented without such consent).
- Students who do not need support in subjects – where requests, access requirements or inclusive practices are not required.
For the most part students registered with Accessibility Service want to progress through their subjects the same way as their peers, without informing people about their disability unnecessarily.