I have recently experienced a serious issue, where the computing school has not adhered to those reasonable adjustments stated in my DSA needs assessment report as being vital to my ability to study.
Specifically, this issue relates to no longer being provided with module materials in print format, despite my needs assessment report justifying why I need print materials for medical and specific learning disability reasons. The computing school has made a blanket cost-cutting decision not to provide any disabled students with print materials, regardless of whether they specifically need them or not.
By doing this, I believe that the OU is not providing students with the reasonable adjustments they need as disabled students with specific needs, and is also not adhering to its own policies regarding discrimination. The OU Anti-Discrimination Statement states that the OU operates a policy of zero-tolerance to various kinds of discrimination, including "Indirect discrimination – putting rules or arrangements in place that apply to everyone, but that put someone with a protected characteristic or different circumstances at an unfair disadvantage".
The suggested solution to print my own materials is not suitable, as it relies on suitably formatted course materials being provided, which have not been. Having to reformat all the course materials, then print them myself, is incredibly time-consuming and is not sustainable for me moving forward. This matter is now the subject of an official complaint. The OU has accepted that my complaint meets the criteria for a formal investigation, but that process is ongoing.
I am sure that there will be other disabled students who might be suffering from not receiving print materials too, so I want to raise this as an issue to be looked at by OpenSU.