Disabilities can create additional barriers to accessing education and students may be disadvantaged compared to their peers.

The purpose of additional support is to remove these barriers and to put the student on a level playing field. Therefore, the University of Exeter encourages students to declare their health so that additional support options can be considered and put in place.

The University has always welcomed and supported disabled students to be part of its rich learning community and strives to enable all students to reach their full academic potential. We aim to support all students in accordance with the Equality Act. This legislation states that students with health conditions that meet the criteria of a disability, are entitled to additional support. 

To access support for your disability, health condition, and/or mental health condition, and to request an Individual Learning Plan, please get in contact.

During this appointment the impact of your mental health difficulties or disability on your studies and time at university will be assessed and reasonable adjustments discussed. With your agreement an ILP and other possible adjustments will be put in place.

The ILP will be agreed with your college and/or the exams team, and any other adjustments agreed with the relevant University teams. As part of this process your disability coding, stored on the restricted access student record system, will be changed.    

Please be aware that if you do not attend the ILP appointment, reasonable adjustments will not put in place. However, as you will have declared your condition to the University by completing the online declaration form, your disability coding (stored on the restricted access student record system) will be changed. Please be aware that this data is sensitive data under the Data Protection Act. For more information see the University data protection pages.

If you would like to discuss this in more depth please email wellbeing@exeter.ac.uk.

The Equality Act 2010 states that students who declare a health condition to the University are entitled to have their specific needs considered and appropriate support put in place.

It recognises that disabilities can create additional barriers to accessing education and students may be disadvantaged compared to their peers.

The purpose of additional support is to remove these barriers and to put the student on a level playing field. Therefore, the University of Exeter encourages students to declare their health so that additional support options can be considered and put in place.

The Act defines disability as follows:

 “A person has a disability if they have a physical or mental impairment, and the impairment has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on his or her ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.”

 For the purposes of the Act, these words have the following meanings:

• substantial means more than minor or trivial.
• long-term means that the effect of the impairment has lasted or is likely to last for at least twelve months. There are special rules covering recurring or fluctuating conditions.
• normal day-to-day activities include everyday things like eating, washing, walking and going shopping.

There are additional provisions relating to people with progressive conditions. People with HIV, cancer or multiple sclerosis are protected by the Act from the point of diagnosis onwards. People with some visual impairments are automatically deemed to be disabled.