Disability Adviser

Overview

This is an exciting opportunity to become a Disability Adviser in the University's Disability and Dyslexia Support Service (DDSS), joining a friendly, committed and experienced team of staff.

Using your experience working with disabled people, you will provide a high-quality service to students and applicants. You'll advise them on university support and facilities, while implementing solutions to remove the barriers they face. You will achieve this through 1:1 student work, close liaison with academic schools and external agencies, and ongoing collaboration with DDSS colleagues.

You will work with students with a wide range of different support requirements, applying for/studying on courses across the institution.

• Provide individual needs assessment and implement support arrangements for disabled students, monitoring the effectiveness of these on an ongoing basis. It is expected that the postholder will spend around half of their working hours delivering 1:1 student consultations
• Provide advice and support to disabled applicants to ensure their effective transition to University study/life
• Communicate with academic schools on appropriate support for a range of disabled students. This will routinely involve creating/sharing Learning Support Plans and Exam Support Adjustments outlining students' support requirements. In more complex cases it will involve ongoing liaison with colleagues to support them to meet students' needs
• Liaise effectively with colleagues across Student Health and Wellbeing Support, the wider university and a variety of external agencies (e.g. external companies that provide 1:1 and group autism support) to facilitate disabled student support and ensure a high quality of service
• Plan, prioritise and organise in order to manage a complex caseload effectively. The casework will consist primarily of students on the autism spectrum, students with mental health difficulties and students with medical conditions
• Efficiently carry out a high volume of administrative duties – including responding to student/colleague enquiries and producing case-notes/student Learning Support Plans in a timely manner, as well as maintaining accurate student records on the service database
• Support students to apply for Disabled Students' Allowances (DSA), liaising with relevant internal and external bodies to ensure that individuals' DSA funding needs are met
• Proactively monitor and review processes and procedures to ensure excellent customer service
• Contribute to team planning and regularly review activity to inform service development and to ensure that we are effectively meeting the needs of those we support
• Develop and deliver staff training sessions - and further develop online resources - to increase understanding of the barriers faced by disabled students at the University and ways to remove these
• Maintain contemporary knowledge of best practice and legislative developments relating to disability. Contribute to the development of relevant policies and procedures
• Carry out other duties, commensurate with the grade and remit of the post

Our diverse community of staff and students recognises the unique abilities, backgrounds, and beliefs of all. We foster a culture where everyone feels they belong and is respected. Even if your past experience doesn't match perfectly with this role's criteria, your contribution is valuable, and we encourage you to apply. Please ensure that you reference the application criteria in the application statement when you apply.

• Extensive experience of advising/supporting disabled people with varied support requirements, including neurodivergent individuals, in a Higher Education setting (Essential) – Assessed:
  Application/interview
• Comprehensive understanding of the barriers to learning that disabled students can face - and the support that can help remove these barriers - in a Higher Education setting (Essential) – Assessed:
  Application/Interview/Activity
• A sound understanding of disability and equality legislation and awareness of the financial support available to disabled students (Essential) – Assessed:
  Application/Int…