Disabled international students

The University welcomes disabled international students. 

Welcome to our University

Disability Services is here is to make sure that disabled students like you have full and equal access to their studies. We do this by recommending academic adjustments for your course.

What does “disabled” mean?

The term “disabled” covers a variety of conditions, illnesses and disabilities. You may not have considered yourself disabled in your home country country.  In the UK, it includes people who:

  • are D/deaf or hearing impaired
  • are blind or visually impaired
  • have a physical disability, and/or mobility difficulties
  • have a specific learning difficulty (for example, dyslexia or dyspraxia)
  • have a neurodevelopmental condition (for example, AD(H)D)
  • have a neurological condition (for example, MS, epilepsy, Tourette Syndrome, stammer)
  • are autistic
  • have a mental health condition
  • have a long-term medical condition (e.g. chronic fatigue syndrome, asthma, diabetes, cancer, HIV)
  • have a combination of these

Applying for support

Once you have your offer from Leeds, you must register with Disability Services to access support:

Available support

The support you could receive is based on your disability and your course requirements. Additional support may be available to postgradate research students. 

 Webinar

Watch our webinar to learn more about being a disabled international student. 

Funding

Disabled students can sometimes access extra funded support, such as specialist equipment or one-to-one help. As an international student, you should talk to your sponsor about extra funding for these items. 

If you do not have a sponsor, please contact us when you apply to Leeds so that we can talk with you about support that may be available.  It can take several months to arrange support so it is important that you contact us as early as possible.

Likely costs

These are the approximate government allowances for undergraduate UK disabled students. You and your sponsor may use them as a guide to calculate the amount of disability-related financial assistance you might require: 

  • equipment per course: £5,000 
  • non-medical helpers per year: £20,000 
  • general allowance per year: £1,700

Financial help

Other sources of funding available for you as an international disabled student are: 

Disabled Students Access Fund

Through the Access Fund, you could access up to 6.5 hours of personal assistant support for non-academic activities during your studies, where no other funding is available. This support is dependent on staff availability. 

Support with day-to-day living

In addition to academic support, consider the informal support you usually receive from friends and family, and who will provide this for you when you come to Leeds.

Disability Services does not provide support with daily living tasks so think carefully about any non-academic, disability-related support needs you may have, such as: 

  • shopping 
  • cooking 
  • cleaning 
  • laundry 
  • personal care 

Find out more about recruiting non-academic Personal Assistant (PA) support.

Accommodation

It is important you organise your accommodation before you come to Leeds. If you have specific access requirements, please request specific accommoation via the Accommodation Office. 

Medical care

  • You may qualify for NHS treatment if your course lasts more than six months. 
  • If your course is shorter than six months, and your home country does not have a reciprocal healthcare agreement with England, you will be seen as a private fee-paying patient. 

Leeds Student Medical Practice is accessible to disabled people and offers key documents in: 

  • Chinese
  • Japanese
  • Greek
  • Arabic
  • Spanish

 

 

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