Find out how to tell us about a disability, so you can get the support you need.
What you need to provide
To be linked to our service and have your needs recorded, you need to:
- provide information about your disability, learning difficulty or ongoing physical or mental health condition. This may be in the form of a description, an online declaration, telling us in person, or providing a piece of documentation. You may also tell a member of staff and be recommended to our service as a result
- give consent for us to share your details with other teams across the University and relevant external parties such as the Housing office, the Library, your teaching staff, facilities workers and teams in our Student Experience division.
If you don’t want to disclose details about your disability, or can only provide limited information, we may not be able to put support arrangements in place.
Telling us about your disability
A disability is any condition that has a substantial and long-term negative effect on your ability to do normal daily activities (including learning). Long-term means that it has been lasting, or is likely to last, at least 12 months.
You are not required to provide documentation of your disability to access support, but you should consider the above definition of a disability before identifying your needs.
Sussex will consider any additional needs you declare at enrolment or add to the Disabilities section of your Personal Details tab on Sussex Direct. You can declare a disability at any time during your studies.
Declaring your needs online will prompt us to reach out to you directly and allow us to make limited adjustments to your teaching and assessment without any additional information.
Providing supporting documentation about your disability
In most cases, you do not need to supply supporting documentation to access adjustments, but doing so may allow us to provide adjustments that are better suited to you.
Supporting documentation may include:
- a copy of a report or letter from your doctor, consultant or other professional
- a letter through the Health Centre website, if you’re registered with this on-campus service
- the evidence form you fill in as part of applying for Disabled Students’ Allowance
- a diagnostic assessment provided by a suitably qualified professional
- a list of previous adjustments provided by a school, college or education provider.
In some cases, it may be helpful to supply specific documentation for:
- mental health – for conditions such as depression, bipolar disorder, psychosis or an eating disorder, you can give supporting information from a mental health professional such as a psychiatrist, social worker or psychologist
- being deaf or having a hearing impairment – an audiogram with a letter from a consultant or audiologist
- autism or ADHD – a diagnostic report from an autism or ADHD specialist or a doctor’s letter stating that a referral for assessment has been made
- Specific Learning Difference such as dyslexia, dyspraxia, dyscalculia or dysgraphia - a diagnostic report from a trained educational psychologist or specialist teacher assessor. Find out more about requesting a Specific Learning Difference assessment.
Your supporting documentation
Our supporting information checker will help you work out which reasonable adjustments our Disability Advice team could offer you, based on the supporting information you share.
How to submit your supporting information and consent
Once you have everything you need, use the form below to submit your information.
This should take about ten minutes.
Further help and advice
If you need advice or support you can get in touch through My Sussex.
You can also:
- come to a Disability Advisor drop-in, every Wednesday (11am-1pm) and Thursday (2pm-4pm) in the Student Centre during term-time
- visit the Student Centre Welcome desk, 8.30am-5pm, Monday-Friday
- call 01273 075700, 9am-4.30pm, Monday-Friday.