The Difference Specialist Support Professionals Make

Specialist Support Professionals for the Vision Impaired (SSPVI) support university students through Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA). Students supported by Thomas Pocklington Trust (TPT) consistently tell us these professionals help them access learning and make the most of university life.

We spoke to a SSPVI about their role and what their experience suggests about how well DSA works for blind and partially sighted students.

“I’ve got a caseload currently of about 40 students studying on loads of different programmes, ranging from foundation degrees, all the way up to PHDs. I’m working with students with no vision, some with some vision and some with CVI (cortical visual impairment). I do a range of both face-to-face support and remote. I help students with things like proofreading, referencing, research and advocacy.”

They says advocacy is a big part of the role. Helping students with support and adjustments the university should make to remove their barriers to learning. It could be things like writing emails to reinforce their rights or attending meetings with students.

Delays, Technology and DSA

One huge barrier for students with vision impairment is accessing technology. They are working with students who still don’t have their tech set up months into their study because of delays with DSA, or those who have struggled with DSA tech training where they’ve been told it must happen online, which can be difficult. Some students have had dyslexia specialists assigned to train them; who don’t know anything about working with VI students. It’s no wonder many of the students they are working with are falling behind in their studies.

They thinks the DSA needs assessment process isn’t working and the disparities in Needs Assessors’ reports are huge. For instance, some offer students 90 hours who wouldn’t even have had any QTVI (Qualified Teacher of Vision Impairment) support in school, and conversely, only a small number of hours where students have very limited vision and skills and are doing highly academic subjects.

“Sometimes I think some needs assessors are led a bit emotionally, on what they feel rather than the reality of what students need.”

The advice they offers for students approaching their needs assessment appointment, is to think about what the worst day in school for them was, in terms of accessing materials or of being able to get from A to B and ask for support based upon that.

Barriers at University

Students with vision impairment consistently do thorough research when choosing universities, often picking them because they’re told categorically that the university has experience with students with vision impairment and are assured their needs will be met. But the reality is often different and the barriers they come up against can become overwhelming.

“Some of the issues are around academic access, like accessibility issues with portals like Blackboard where navigating with assistive technology can be really time consuming and difficult. A lot of my students will miss out on some of that information because they’re just trying to look for the key bits. So now I’m working on ways that we can work together to get that information right at the beginning of term.”

They observe that when digital materials are in place, they tend to be okay but often there are things like infographics in PowerPoint presentations which can’t be read, and often these graphics are crucial to the learning.

The SSPVI spoke about a student who was reluctant to ask for their needs to be met when there were 200 other students on their course, even though it’s completely reasonable.

“Universities are failing to deliver for these students. I think it comes back to they don’t understand what a reasonable adjustment is. And the students can be very grateful for any support, so struggle to hold the university to account for what they are actually entitled to.”

Shortage of Support and Mobility Training

There is a real shortage of SSPVIs and mobility trainers which has a big impact on students’ independence. Some students have only received mobility training in their third year of university.

“Without mobility training a lot of these students have sighted guides, when they didn’t really use sighted guides before, only in extraordinary circumstances, and that can really knock their confidence and hold them back from engaging socially. They’re not getting the full university experience.”

There is also the issue of students’ expectations about the support SSPVIs can offer, with many refusing online support as they, understandably, want face-to-face support. But there simply aren’t enough SSPVIs and this can act as a big barrier to accessing the support. There’s also a lack of clarity for the student about the SSPVI role, and often no mention of it in their transition planning.

“Role clarity can also be vague. Some universities wanted me to produce all the resources for the student, and that isn’t the role. Beyond some basic outlines there are no shared standards for the SSPVI role, and as SSPVIs are QTVIs there is no training and no professional networks which also contributes to the inconsistency.”

“The non-medical help agencies all work in different ways. Some of them say they contact the students on a regular basis to see how things are going, but with others once the support has started, they just leave you to it. There is very little professional development and expectations are quite different… Having a SSPVI forum to help share knowledge would be wonderful.”

Student Experience and Wellbeing

Sadly, the SSPVI says they hadn’t yet spoken to a student who was having the time of their lives at university. Mostly they’re very tired, overwhelmed and trying to keep up with their studies.

“The support from SSPVIs definitely helps with academic progress. Part of the role is about teaching skills for independence, so you are going into it to eventually get to a point where the student has the skills to support themselves. With all the pressures of university I also think that the role supports well-being, because it’s someone touching base with them, who knows what they’re experiencing and how it feels. And when they say certain things that might seem quite small to other people, you know, I can recognise why that is.”

Many students talk to her about leaving university, many feel isolated, most are not a part of those conversations that happen in the student union or wherever students get together to share their doubts and support each other. They have set up groups for students in the same universities or studying the same subjects to try to create those crucial support networks.

Transition and Preparation

They call for more support from universities for students with vision impairment prior to starting to support mobility training and accessing things like the virtual learning environment.

“I see big gaps in skills particularly around the technology area. Lots of students arrive at university and just don’t having the tech skills to be university ready, and there have obviously been gaps in earlier support. One student I worked with had been at a fantastic local authority who I know are really hot on IT, and he’s been to a specialist college for four years, then went onto his local college to do a BTEC and is now on a degree course. Despite all of this support they can’t answer text messages, can’t answer emails and they want me to communicate via their parent which isn’t really the role. This student has been given 60 hours of support which is not going to be enough to support them to access their learning and get them ready for independence – the skills gap is too big.”

They also call for more information for QTVIs about post 18 education, so they’re equipped to understand and play a role in getting students ready.

About the Role

QTVIs might be a bit daunted about taking the step to be a SSPVI,

“Because you are working with students in all sorts of subjects up to PhDs in areas you don’t have expertise, but it’s not about knowing the subject. it’s about knowing how to scaffold support and knowing how to get the best out of them.”

Our Position

This case study highlights both the vital role SSPVIs play in enabling blind and partially sighted students to access higher education and the systemic problems within the DSA process. These experiences reinforce the need for stronger quality assurance of needs assessments, greater access to assessors and trainers with vision impairment expertise, clearer standards for non-medical help roles, and improved accountability for the timely delivery of DSA-funded support. To read more about what we are doing to improve DSA see our policy position.