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I'd be grateful for any help and advice on a challenging situation regarding some NMH support - it's not your run of the mill request! Any information that might help from colleagues would be much appreciated. We have a student who is shortly hoping to start a PhD with us at Warwick. The PhD is in Symbolic Logic, part-time, through our Philosophy department. As I now know, this is a rather specialised technical subject, closer to advanced mathematics in many ways. The student has a severe visual impairment and this presents a few logistical challenges. For example the symbols used in this subject are too specialised for any screen reading software (or at least any that we are aware of), meaning that that symbols would need to be written out for him on to a whiteboard or on to large pieces of paper. It seems that any support worker working with him would need to have a Philosophy, Maths or at least a scientific background. The situation is more complicated as the student wishes to remain based in London (Teddington) for compelling family reasons. We are therefore in the position of having to think about the best way we might recruit a suitable support worker for him in London and also try to find somewhere that it may be possible for him to work with his support worker close to his home. As a part-time student, the amount of DSA funding available is going to be limited to around £10,260 for each year of his course, we have a fairly limited budget at the university to go over this amount. The student is anticipating needing 3-4 hours per day for most of the year. Whilst we employ our support workers at around £10.25 an hour in Warwick, of course London rates will be higher - £11.50 has been suggested - not sure if this is realistic? Do colleagues have any view on how easy it might be to find such a support worker? We would consider working with agencies if the costs are not prohibitive so contact from agency based colleagues would be welcome on or off list - to [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> please. In the unlikely event of any London based colleagues having "spare" support workers who might be available and suitable, please do get in touch! The other issue is a suitable venue for working with a support worker. Whilst I'm reasonably confident colleagues in London based institutions would grant him access to their libraries and communal study spaces through SCONUL or other arrangements, we have advised the student that his expectation of being able to use a separate room with a white board at an institution he is not registered at, is probably unrealistic. I have emailed RNIB to see if they have any study spaces in London that they could make available to him, but any other suggestions would be welcome. I'm sure you'll appreciate it's quite a conundrum so any help/advice/sympathy is much appreciated! Best wishes Kathryn Kathryn Fisher Disability Coordinator Disability Services University House The University of Warwick Coventry CV4 8UW, UK Tel: +44 (0)24 76573734 Email: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>