Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA) provides support to help cover the additional study-related costs you may have due to a disability or long-term health condition. Examples of conditions that might qualify include:
Specific learning difficulties such as dyslexia or ADHD
Mental health conditions such as anxiety or depression
Physical disabilities like the need to use crutches, a wheelchair, or a special keyboard
Sensory disabilities such as visual impairment, deafness, or hearing loss
- Long-term health conditions such as cancer, chronic heart disease, or HIV
Please refer to your relevant funding body for information on Disabled Students Allowance information:-
DSA - Northern Ireland (undergraduate)
The links above cover eligibility and how to apply, and these decisions are made by your funding body.
Please note, currently OCA students in Scotland cannot access DSA support for their first unit. We are exploring whether it will be possible to access this for later units, and will update this as soon as we can.
You will also find some information on our website - Disabilities, Specific Learning Difficulties (SpLD’s) and Long-Term Health Conditions. This includes information for Needs Assessors if you have applied for DSA.
We also have more information about how DSA can help with your OCA studies in our Learner Support Page.