Helpline Case Studies

Alex’s story

We first started to support Alex (not his real name) on the helpline when he was still at school, after his Mum got in touch looking for advice. His Mum used our helpline a number of times over the years as he progressed through different learning pathways. She recently got in touch to say Alex […]

Posted: Thursday, October 31st, 2024

Sarah’s story

Sarah felt increasingly isolated in her final year before graduation. As life with her newly acquired health condition progressed, she struggled to keep up with the increasing demands of her course. Feeling unsupported by her university, she got in touch with Lead Scotland’s disabled students’ helpline. Sarah was diagnosed with ME/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome going into […]

Posted: Wednesday, January 16th, 2019

Pat’s story

“It’s hard…it looks like we are going to have to battle the system once again,” said Pat, after her son Matthew was told he had to find funding for another year at college himself, including the expensive travel costs he would incur as a result of his impairment. The challenges of funding were putting a […]

Posted: Friday, November 16th, 2018

Reasonable Adjustments in Exams

A parent contacted the helpline, looking for information and advice about what their child’s rights were in relation to receiving ‘reasonable adjustments’ for a university admissions test for a degree course their child had applied to. The university was refusing to allow adjustments for an entry exam for their child, who had a specific learning […]

Posted: Tuesday, January 31st, 2017

Organising Support at College

Elizabeth, who is a member of the ASN staff at an Edinburgh school, contacted Lead’s information service regarding Calum, a learner with cerebral palsy who was leaving school and progressing to college the following year. Calum was going to require a relatively complex support package and funding arrangement and his family were not sure who […]

Posted: Tuesday, January 31st, 2017

How studying impacts on benefits

A young disabled person phoned the helpline to try and find out how their benefits would be affected if they were to undertake post-graduate study. They were very anxious and frustrated as they had called multiple agencies to try and get the correct information, but had been receiving conflicting answers as their individual situation was […]

Posted: Tuesday, January 31st, 2017