Just to add to this- I've seen a small number of students in the past
over the years who've been diagnosed with 'dyslexia and visual stress'
who - only because I'm used to working with VI students- it seemed to me
from what they were telling me they really had an undiagnosed visual
impairment, in one case I recall it warranted advising them to do a
self-referral via the A&E dept of Moorfields Eye Hospital (here in
London) - as soon as possible. I don't agree that visual stress should
be removed as something DSA-able if it's been correctly diagnosed and
other problems have been properly ruled out, but the chance that someone
might pick up on a potentially very nasty eyesight problem early on is
another good reason to keep it in the system.
Ian
On 23/10/2018 4:51 PM, Robert Edwards wrote:
> I’d like to add a couple of points to this discussion:
>
> 1) The government’s guidance on the 2010 Equality Act states “A person
> has a disability for the purposes of the Act if he or she has a physical
> or mental impairment and the impairment has a substantial and long-term
> adverse effect on his or her ability to carry out normal day-to-day
> activities.” My understanding, from this, is that anybody with a
> long-term visual impairment that affects his or her ability to study
> certainly is disabled for the purposes of the Act. So I agree with the
> argument that if DSA is required to fund low vision magnifiers, for
> example, then it should also fund amelioration for other visual
> impairment. (Though DSA is not expected to fund the cost of eye tests or
> prescription glasses. Presumably that is because “you need to read
> whether you’re in HE or not”.)
>
> So the question of the validity of the withdrawal of DSA funding for
> “visual stress” support boils down to whether "visual stress” is a
> visual impairment that can be accurately assessed, or diagnosed.
>
> 2) According to the June 2018 SASC Working Group publication*,
> *“Specific Learning Difficulties (SpLDs) and Visual Difficulties: A
> Guide for Assessors and SpLD Practitioners” (available from
> http://www.sasc.org.uk/Downloads.aspx 10th from the bottom of the page
> when I checked today):
>
> *
>
> Symptoms that previously may have been seen as associated with
> ‘visual stress’ could be caused by uncorrected refractive error
> and/or oculomotor issues. Specialist assessors/practitioner
> psychologists cannot assess for these.
>
> *
>
> Visual stress should not be used as a catch-all term for visual
> difficulties.
>
> These messages were clearly emphasised at a SASC CPD event I attended in
> London a week and a half ago. Students may experience reading
> difficulties not only because of visual acuity and refractive error
> (which are covered by an NHS eye test), but also because of oculomotor
> functions (accommodation and convergence), visual sensation (sensory
> visual stress (pattern-related)), or visual perception. These latter
> causes may not be assessed by an NHS eye test, but can be assessed by an
> optometrist or orthoptist.
>
> The same CPD event was at pains to declare that the term “visual stress”
> is to be deprecated.
>
> Please note that I’m not suggesting that help for students with a visual
> impairment should not be funded; just that we need to be careful about
> the terms used for impairments, about their assessment, and about
> support for them.
>
> Robert Edwards
>
>> On 23 Oct 2018, at 11:56, Satchell, Phillip
>> <[log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote:
>>
>> I'm surprised that there hasn't been more of a fuss about the
>> announcement of this change, on this forum and elsewhere. My concern
>> is that the justification for this change seems to be - you need to
>> read whether you're in HE or not, so visual stress isn't only study
>> related and therefore isn’t fundable through DSA. If you extend this
>> argument, why would DSA fund text-to-speech software, low vision
>> magnifiers, ergonomic chairs, mice and keyboards? Much of what has
>> been funded by DSA has been predicated on the fact that HE students
>> need to do (much) more of certain activities as part of their studies
>> but not that these activities are uniquely found in HE study. I spy
>> the thin end of a dangerous wedge!
>> Phil Satchell
>> Assessment Centre Manager
>> Student Based Services
>> University House A47
>> Lancaster University
>> LA1 4YW
>>
>> Tel: 01524 592753
>> Email:[log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
>>
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