You'll get a Student Support Document (SSD) from the Accessibility and Disability Resource Centre (ADRC) if you tell us about your disability or long term medical condition, and you require support or access arrangements.
What the SSD includes
- Information about the disability or impairment.
- The effects this may have on study.
- Recommendations for access arrangements and adjustments.
- Contact details for the Disability Adviser.
How we create the SSD
Once you tell us about your disability and provide relevant evidence, advisers at the Accessibility and Disability Resource Centre will:
- contact you to discuss your disability or impairment
- create an SSD document with detailed recommendations of support that's specific to you. This is also based on your disability and the course you’re studying
- share the SSD with you, so you can review it
- liaise with your College, faculty or department if necessary, and with your permission
- update the SSD if there are any changes in circumstances or recommendations, for example if you move from one level of study to another or change course
What faculties, departments and colleges are responsible for
Recommendations in the SSD are designed to ensure that disabled students can access studies effectively and are not at a disadvantage compared to non-disabled students.
Academic and support staff should first speak to the student if something isn't clear in the SSD. The student understands best how their disability or impairment affects their studies.
Faculty and department responsibilities:
- adjustments to departmental teaching, such as lectures, seminars and postgraduate supervisions
- departmental library provision
- necessary changes to the physical environment
College responsibilities:
- adjustments to college teaching, such as undergraduate supervisions
- College library support
- adjustments to accommodation and the physical environment
- applying for exam access arrangements
- catering and dietary requirements
The relevant Graduate Tutor or Director of Studies is responsible for making sure Departments and Colleges have put the reasonable adjustments in place.
How to access the SSD
Students
We'll share the SSD with you to review, before we send it on to anyone else. You can access your SSD on CamSIS.
Academic and support staff
SSDs are available on the student's CamSIS record. You'll receive an email if you have access to a student's SSD. This email does not contain the SSD itself or include any sensitive or personal data but will tell you how to access the SSD.
If you have access to the SSD on CamSIS, you can share it with other staff who need to see it but do not have access to CamSIS. This might include supervisors, lecturers, college staff such as porters, lab staff and in some instances placement providers.
You can download and share the:
- full document, which may contain sensitive personal information. This is for staff who are directly responsible for teaching or supporting the student
- short document, which is a summary of the recommendations only and does not contain any sensitive personal information.
You are responsible for deciding who has a need to see the full document or just the recommendations. Further guidance on the dissemination of SSDs is available on the ADRC's SharePoint site.
If you're the main contact, you'll get an email if the SSD is updated or changed.
Find out more about viewing the SSD as a member of staff on Moodle (sign in required).