New Disability Co-ordinators
The role of the DC
There are essentially two types of DC, those based within Schools, and those based within Support Services e.g. accommodation, library. Their roles differ slightly, as explained below:
1. School DCs
The role of the DC is to provide a central contact within Schools for disabled students, the DASS and academic staff.
- For students: having a named contact who can be contacted about disability matters is of great benefit, as they might not initially feel confident enough to approach their personal tutor or other member of staff and might not yet be aware of the existence of the DASS – or may have a query that can only be answered by someone in their school.
- For the DASS: having a specific contact in a School with knowledge of school procedures and staff is very valuable. The DASS sends all notifications regarding disabled students in a School directly to the DC so that it can be distributed to other members of staff accordingly.
- For academic staff: having a person within their own School to consult on matters relating to disability will help to ensure that disabled students receive appropriate support.
2. Support Service DCs
As with School DCs, these DCs liaise between students, the DASS and staff. However, a DC in a support service (e.g. the library service) will not routinely be notified of disabled students, unless there are particular adjustments to be made in their area.
Principal Duties
Primarily, the role of the DC is administrative, and involves ensuring that information about students is distributed appropriately and in a timely fashion within the School/support service.
The role is likely to involve contact with disabled students in the process of co-ordinating their support e.g. a student may contact a DC regarding a School matter such as an Appeal, which the DC may help to resolve. However, DCs should generally refer students and staff disability queries to the DASS unless they are confident they are able to fully answer them.
The DC must keep clear and transparent records, bearing in mind that in some cases the role is temporary, and the notes may need to be passed on to a new DC. At all times, DCs must be careful about the data they have access to and this must be managed in line with the University’s Data Protection Guidelines. DCs are a combination of academic, academic-related and administrative staff, the vast majority of whom undertake the role in addition to their main jobs.
It is also important to bear in mind that while staff at the University will generally be aware of the existence of DCs, disabled students will need this role to be publicised. If students approach the DASS directly, they will be given the name of the DC in their School. However, students should also have other means of finding out the names of their School DC, as this will provide them with alternative means of disclosing their disability confidentially. Possible ways of publicising the School DC include:
The DC giving a talk during Welcome Week
- The DC’s name and a short description of their role in student handbooks and the School’s website
- The DC contacting all disabled students in their remit to introduce themselves and give contact details/office hours
Additionally it is hoped that DCs may help to raise the profile of disability matters at a School/support service level e.g. by ensuring that disability topics are included on meeting agendas.
What do I do first?
As a new DC you will need to successfully complete online data protection and protecting information courses before you can start in the role. You should pass confirmation that this has been done to the DASS Database Administrator, Imtiyaz Timol (Imtiyaz.timol@manchester.ac.uk). You will then need to attend general DC training, and training on the computer system, Qlikview, with DASS. You should also receive training from the outgoing DC on the records and procedures within the School. There is a lot of information available about the role on our Working with Disabled Students website, and information about support and how to access it on our Disabled Students website.
Contacting other DCs/Networking
Each School has a caseworker Adviser and Assistant Adviser in the DASS, and the DC will have most contact with them. All DCs can use the Disability Co-ordinators email discussion list to communicate with others carrying out the same role. All DCs should have been made a member of this list automatically when becoming a DC. To send a message, address your email to:
DISABILITY-CO-ORD@listserv.manchester.ac.uk
This will ensure that your email will be distributed to all other DCs in the University. If you wish, your email can be sent anonymously. Please contact the DSO for more information about this.
DCs are also able to find up-to-date contact details for all DCs in Schools/support services, on the DASS website: