Assessing Your Disability
It is important that you assess your disability prior to applying for a course of study so that you can make informed decisions about the course that you are applying. To assess your disability you need to think about how your disability will impact upon your course of study and identify any reasonable adjustments that can be made to assist you undertake that course.
To assist you in this process think about some of the following:
- do I require accessible facilities?
- does my medication make me drowsy?
- does my medication affect my concentration?
- can I sit at a desk for long periods of time?
- can I lift heavy objects?
- do I require assistive technology?
- do I require Auslan interpreters?
- do I need notetakers?
Disability staff can assist in this process and establish an Access Plan that will set out the impact of your disability and/or medical condition on your studies, assist you negotiate with university staff on disability related requirements you may need, document information that you provide and include important information provided by relevant service providers and tertiary staff.
However you need to take responsibility for choosing your course of study, identifying core requirements of that course and making realistic decisions about how your disability will impact upon those core requirements.
Refer to the attached Worksheet 4 - Understanding your disability (worksheet 4 as text 63KB or worksheet 4 as PDF 94KB ).
For further information see disability and discrimination and disability services.
Max Magain talks about the
importance of assessing
the impact of your disability on your
course of study