The fund can be used to purchase item(s) that may help you access daily life such as fidget toys, walking canes and compression socks although the list is long. Unfortunately we are not able to help with items that will specifically help with your studies and are traditionally coverd by the Disabled Students Allowance such as a laptop or sign language interpreter support.

Depending on the cost of the item(s) you need, the fund will either cover the full cost or up to £50 of the costs.

Getting funding for items that help you go about your daily life as a disabled/neurodiverse person especially without formal diagnosis can be extremely difficult.

Unfortunately some of these items can also be extremely costly especially for students who already face so many expenses when coming to university.

This fund is designed to help break down the barriers that disabled and neurod0verse students face in their daily lives.

To be eligible for aid by the Disabilities, Accessibility and Neuro-Diverse Fund, a student must:

• be currently studying a course at Bournemouth University
• Identify as Disabled, neurodiverse or having an access need.
• Have reasonable need for items by the fund (i.e. not already have lots of the item they are requesting unless they are needing to replace it) - this is trust-based and self-declared by the student and not under investigation by SUBU.
• Have not used the fund excessively before (with the option to justify if there is a reasonable explanation like extreme hardship, or change of circumstances, etc.)
• Not be requesting items with excessive costs e.g. custom products, unless explicitly necessary for reasons of sizing or access needs to be considered
• Agree to return products that are unsuitable and in a condition to be returned/reused to either the vendor or the SU in order to help other students.

It's pretty simple, all you need to do is fill out the Disabilities, Accessibility and Neuro-Diverse Fund Request Form linked at the bottom of this page and our team will take it from there! You will be contacted about your application when it is approved and have discussions with the team in order for them to order the products you have requested.

Only your Disabilities, Accessibility and Neuro-Diverse Officer and their SUBU staff support, SUBU's Liberation and Campaigns Co-ordinator will have access to the information you submit via the form. The only time this may differ is if the Liberation and Campaigns Co-ordinator is not available for the application review panel at which point another member of the Democracy and Campaigns team will assist. This information is kept in strict confidence.

1. Approximately once a month a panel consisting of the DAND Officer and the Liberation and Campaigns Co-ordinator (or another member of the Democracy & Campaigns team, if the co-ordinator is unavailable) will meet to approve suitable applications that have come in over the month prior to the meeting
2. Once your application has been approved, the team will get in contact to inform you and discuss the next steps
3. If you have applied for gender affirming products, the team will provide a list of potential brands they recommend for the item(s) and ask you to inform them of which product(s) and size(s) you'd like as well as where is best for them to be sent. If you have provided a link to products during the application process then they will just ask for size(s)
4. If you have applied for financial support with transport expenses, the team will either ask for receipts if you have already booked transport or let you know how to do it through the fund
5. Products or gift cards will then be ordered and either sent to you directly or left at the Student Centre for you to collect

Any costs over the £50 from SUBU will need to be settled by you after you have recieved your items either with a one off payment or via a payment plan agreement with us. Non-payment of additional costs may result in the Disabilities, Accesibility and Neuro-Diverse Fund no longer being able to be offered in the future. This is to make sure it is fair on all those requesting from the fund as access items can vary in price.