Starting university is exciting. It can also be overwhelming.
There is Freshers’ Week, a new campus, new people, new routines and, eventually, lectures, assignments, deadlines and exams.
If you’re a disabled student, there can be another layer to all of that.
You may need to work out how to get around campus, understand your support, make sure your assistive technology works, access your course materials and know who to contact when something isn’t working.
None of this means you shouldn’t enjoy your first few weeks. Quite the opposite.
The more of the practical stuff you can work out early, the more energy you can put into actually being a student.
The goal isn’t to have everything perfect before your first lecture. It’s to do the groundwork before the hard work starts.
1. Enjoy Freshers’ Week — But Use It to Get Your Bearings
Freshers’ Week isn’t just about events, nights out and meeting people.
It is also your opportunity to start getting to know your university.
You don’t need to spend every waking hour exploring campus, but start paying attention to where things are.
Find your:
- School or department
- Lecture buildings
- Library
- Students’ Union
- Student services
- Disability or accessibility service
- Cafés and places to eat
- Accessible toilets
- Quiet spaces
- Accommodation
- Any other buildings you know you’ll regularly use
If you’re unfamiliar with the campus, don’t assume you’ll remember everything after one walk around.
You won’t.
And that’s fine.
Take photos, save locations on your phone, make notes or use whatever method works for you.
The aim is to make the campus gradually become familiar rather than having to figure it all out when you’re already late for class.
2. Learn Your Routes — More Than Once
One of the most useful things you can do before lectures start is learn how you’re actually going to get around.
And don’t just do the route once.
Try it at different times of day.
A route that feels straightforward at 10:30 in the morning might be very different at 8:45 when hundreds of students are heading to lectures.
Try it in the:
- Morning — when people are arriving for lectures
- Afternoon — when the campus may have different levels of activity
- Evening — particularly if you have evening teaching, activities or need to travel back to accommodation
Think about more than simply getting from A to B.
Where are the accessible entrances?
Where are the lifts?
Which doors are easiest for you to use?
Where are the accessible toilets?
Are there long corridors, steep routes, stairs or crowded areas?
Where can you stop if you need a break?
How long does the journey actually take?
And what happens if your usual route is blocked?
If you’re visually impaired, use a mobility aid, have fatigue, have difficulty walking, experience sensory overload or have another condition that affects how you navigate your environment, these details can make a significant difference.
Don’t just learn the route on a quiet day. Learn what the route is like when university is actually happening.
3. Find the Places You’ll Need Before You Need Them
There is nothing particularly helpful about discovering where the accessible toilet is while you’re desperately looking for one.
Find it beforehand.
The same applies to other important places.
If you know you’ll need the library, find out how to enter it and where the facilities you need are located.
If you use a quiet space, find out where one is.
If you need somewhere to sit between lectures, identify some options.
If you have mobility or fatigue-related needs, think about where you can rest.
You don’t need to memorise the entire university.
Start with the places that are going to matter to you.
4. Meet Your Disability Adviser
If you have a disability adviser, accessibility adviser or equivalent member of staff at your university, get to know them.
Don’t just know their name.
Know:
- Where they are based
- How to contact them
- When they’re available
- What support they are responsible for
- What adjustments have been agreed
- Who to contact if something isn’t working
Universities should have someone responsible for disability issues whom students can speak to about available support.
And remember: your disability adviser isn’t someone you should only contact when things have gone badly wrong.
If your circumstances change, your support isn’t working or you discover a new barrier, contact them.
You are allowed to say:
“This isn’t working for me. What can we do?”
5. Get to Know Your External Support Worker Too
This is something that can be confusing when you first arrive at university.
Not everyone supporting you will actually work for the university.
Depending on your needs and support arrangements, you may have a mentor, specialist study skills tutor, note-taker, assistive technology trainer or another non-medical helper.
Some of these support workers are provided through external organisations rather than being university employees.
For example, DSA can fund non-medical helpers, including specialist note-takers.
So make sure you know:
Who is providing your support?
How do you contact them?
When are you supposed to meet?
What exactly is their role?
What happens if they are unavailable?
Don’t assume that your university disability adviser and your external support worker automatically know everything about each other’s arrangements.
You are the person at the centre of your support.
Knowing who does what makes it much easier to spot when something is missing.
6. Get Your Logins Working Before Your First Lecture
This sounds boring.
It isn’t.
Imagine arriving at your first lecture, opening your laptop and discovering that you can’t access the university system.
You don’t know your password.
You can’t access your course page.
The reading isn’t available.
You can’t open the lecture materials.
And everyone else is already getting started.
Deal with the boring stuff early.
Make sure you can access:
- Your university email
- Student portal
- Virtual learning environment
- Course pages
- Lecture materials
- Online library
- Reading lists
- Assignment submission systems
- Relevant university apps
Log in before teaching starts.
If something doesn’t work, ask for help before you need it urgently.
7. Check Your Course Materials
Getting access to the university system is only the first step.
Actually check the materials.
Can your assistive technology read them?
Can you access PDFs?
Can you navigate the online learning platform?
Can you find the reading?
Can you access recordings if they are provided?
If you use a screen reader, magnification, speech-to-text, text-to-speech or other assistive technology, test it with the systems you’ll actually be using.
Don’t wait until the first assignment.
You want to discover a problem while there is still time to fix it.
8. Make Sure Your Support Is Actually Starting
Having support approved doesn’t necessarily mean everything is immediately in place.
For students in England, GOV.UK currently states that it can take up to 14 weeks to get DSA support in place after applying.
DSA can support study-related costs such as specialist equipment, non-medical helpers and disability-related travel, depending on individual needs.
So if you’re starting university and something you’ve been expecting hasn’t arrived or been arranged, don’t simply assume you have to manage without it.
Check what is happening.
Contact the appropriate person.
Keep track of what has been agreed and what is still outstanding.
And if your circumstances change during your course, don’t assume that the support you started with has to remain exactly the same.
Your needs can change.
Your course can change.
Your circumstances can change.
Your support may need to change too.
9. Make Friends and Join In
This is just as important as the practical stuff.
University isn’t only about lectures.
It’s about meeting people, discovering interests and building a life outside your course.
Go to Freshers’ events if you want to.
Talk to people.
Join a society.
Try a club.
Go to something you’ve never done before.
And if you need to ask about accessibility, ask.
You don’t have to decide that somewhere isn’t for you before you’ve even tried it.
At the same time, don’t put pressure on yourself to make your best friends during your first week.
Some people click immediately.
Some people take months to find their group.
Both are normal.
10. Build Your Own Backup Plan
Things won’t always go according to plan.
Your usual route might be blocked.
Your support worker might be unavailable.
Your laptop might stop working.
A lift might be out of service.
You might become unwell.
A lecture might move to another building.
Knowing what you’ll do when something goes wrong can reduce the panic when it happens.
Think about your alternatives.
Who can you contact?
Where can you get help?
Is there another accessible route?
Can you access the materials another way?
Do you have important contact details saved?
You don’t need a solution for every possible problem.
Just start building a mental map of what you can do when something doesn’t go to plan.
Do the Groundwork Before the Hard Work Starts
Starting university with a disability doesn’t mean you need to have everything figured out before your first lecture.
It means giving yourself the best possible chance of dealing with the academic side of university without constantly having to solve practical problems at the same time.
So before the lectures really get going:
Explore your campus.
Learn your routes.
Try those routes at different times of day.
Find the places you’ll need.
Meet your disability adviser.
Get to know your external support worker.
Check your logins.
Test your assistive technology.
Make sure you can access your course materials.
Meet people.
Join in.
And remember:
You don’t have to know everything on day one.
University is a new environment. It takes time to learn how it works.
But the more groundwork you do now, the less you’ll have to figure out when the lectures, assignments and deadlines arrive.
Do the groundwork before the hard work starts.
Welcome to university.