Reasonable adjustments are the changes a university or college must make so that a disabled student can study and be assessed on equal terms: extra time in exams, a note taker, materials in another format, flexible deadlines. You get them by registering with the disability service, sending evidence, agreeing a plan and keeping to its deadlines. In the US, colleges such as Berkeley and Ohio State call them accommodations.
EdCitation publishes this guide. We read every law and page below on 2 October 2026, and say where a page refused us. It describes support services and their rules; it is not medical advice, and we diagnose no one.
Coursework still has to be scheduled around a plan. EdCitation's free Check your paper reads an assignment's instructions into a checklist; we ran it below. For approaching staff, see how to use office hours and ask for help; for study alongside work or caring, how to study with a job or caring responsibilities.
What are reasonable adjustments at university?
Reasonable adjustments are the steps a university must take, under the Equality Act 2010 in England, Scotland and Wales, so that a disabled student is not put at a substantial disadvantage. Section 20 sets three duties: change a provision, criterion or practice; deal with a physical feature; provide an auxiliary aid. Section 91(9) applies the duty to universities and colleges, and section 20(7) stops them charging you for it. Section 6 counts as disabled a person whose impairment has a "substantial and long-term adverse effect" on normal day-to-day activities. Northern Ireland has its own law, which we did not read.
What the duty covers, and what it does not
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (2014b) lists readers, interpreters, rest breaks, extra time, assistants, flexible deadlines and alternative assessments among possible adjustments. It draws one line: a competence standard, such as the pass mark, is not adjusted, but the way you show you meet it can be.
In the US: academic adjustments
The Office for Civil Rights (2011), which enforces Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, says a college must provide appropriate academic adjustments, such as extended testing time, note takers or a reduced course load. It need not lower essential requirements or provide personal services such as tutoring, and may not charge you. We read the September 2011 edition in the Department of Education's ERIC library, because ed.gov refused our requests.
How do reasonable adjustments work in the UK, US and Australia?
All three countries require adjustments, but the law, the decider and the route differ.
| Country | Law | Who decides | How to apply | If refused | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK (England, Scotland, Wales) | Equality Act 2010, ss. 20 and 91 | The university, advised by its disability service | Register, send evidence, agree a plan; DSA in England | Review, complaints procedure, OIA (England, Wales), court | EHRC (2014b); OIA (n.d.) |
| US | Section 504; ADA Title II | The college's disability office, with you | Tell the college, follow its procedure, send documentation | 504 or ADA coordinator, grievance procedure, OCR, court | Office for Civil Rights (2011) |
| Australia | Disability Discrimination Act 1992; Disability Standards for Education 2005 | The provider, after consulting you | Register with the disability service, send documents | Australian Human Rights Commission | The Standards |
| Any country | Your brief's instructions | You | Read each brief with Check your paper, free | Ask your service if a date clashes | Our run, below |
Australia's Standards also require the adjustment within a reasonable time, which depends partly on when you supplied the information (section 3.7), and let a provider keep a course's inherent requirements (section 3.4(3)).
How do I get adjustments at university, step by step?
You get adjustments by registering early, sending evidence, agreeing a plan and activating it each term.
- Find the service. Names vary, from Edinburgh's Disability and Learning Support Service to Berkeley's Disabled Students' Program.
- Gather evidence (next section). If it is hard to get, contact the service anyway; Ohio State says not to delay.
- Register, usually online; Manchester also takes forms by email, post or in person.
- Meet an adviser. Berkeley's intake lasts an hour, and Sydney's registration appointment about an hour.
- Receive the plan: a Schedule of Adjustments at Edinburgh, shared with the relevant staff (University of Edinburgh Disability and Learning Support Service, 2024), a University Support Plan at Manchester, a Letter of Accommodation at Berkeley.
- Activate it every term. Berkeley asks for letters each semester once you register for classes; an instructor's responsibility begins when the letter is sent (University of California, Berkeley Disabled Students' Program, n.d.-a).
- Diary the exam deadlines (below).
- Read each new brief into a checklist with Check your paper, then set any extension your plan gives against its due date.
- Say early if it is not working. OCR warns it may be too late once the course has ended.
What evidence do I need for disability support?
Most services want evidence from a qualified professional showing a condition and how it affects your study now. The detail varies.
UK evidence
For DSA, the Student Loans Company (2026b) asks for a doctor's or other qualified medical professional's letter confirming a substantial, long-term adverse effect on day-to-day activities. For a specific learning difficulty such as dyslexia it wants a diagnostic report to the 2005 SpLD Working Group guidelines, from a practitioner psychologist or a specialist teacher holding an assessment practising certificate. Its evidence form defines long term as at least 12 months and warns that a GP may charge for it, a cost DSA does not cover (Student Loans Company, 2026a).
Edinburgh accepts a GP's referral letter, saying how a suspected condition affects daily life and study, while you wait for an ADHD or autism diagnosis; a waiting-list confirmation is not enough, and funded support waits for the diagnosis (University of Edinburgh Disability and Learning Support Service, 2025).
US and Australian evidence
OCR says colleges may set reasonable documentation standards, that a high school IEP or Section 504 plan is generally not enough on its own, and that a college need not pay for a new evaluation. Ohio State is more open: it lists an IEP or 504 plan among acceptable documents, and may approve provisional accommodations for one semester while a diagnosis is completed (Ohio State University Student Life Disability Services, n.d.-a). Ask your college which rule it follows. Sydney wants psychometric results from testing at 15 or older for a specific learning disability (University of Sydney, 2026).
How do I get extra time in exams?
You get extra time in exams by agreeing exam adjustments with the disability service before the university's exam deadline; a late request may wait until the next exam period. The deadlines we read on 2 October 2026:
- Sydney: registration appointment by Wednesday 7 October 2026 for Semester 2 exams.
- Manchester: registered, with exam support agreed, by Friday 20 November at 4pm, the next deadline its page gave.
- Queen Mary University of London: for most faculties, 27 November 2026 for January 2027 exams, and two weeks before any in-class test.
- Ohio State: each exam booked at least seven days ahead; autumn 2026 finals by Thursday 12 November, 11:55pm (Ohio State University Student Life Disability Services, n.d.-b).
- Berkeley: some exam accommodations, scribes among them, take two weeks or more to arrange.
How much extra time?
How much extra time you get is set for you, and the norm differs by country. Queen Mary University of London (n.d.) says UK students with dyslexia typically receive 25% additional time, the level a 1999 working party recommended, and that more is unlikely. Berkeley lists "150% time", half as long again, among its testing accommodations. Where timing is part of the competence tested, less may be possible: Queen Mary caps extra time in some clinical exams at 25%.
Miss a deadline and Queen Mary says you can still apply, or declare yourself not fit to sit and use its extenuating circumstances process. Nerves on the day are covered in how to beat exam stress.
What is Disabled Students' Allowance (DSA), and how do I apply?
DSA is England's grant for the study costs a disability, long-term illness or mental health condition adds: up to £27,783 a year for undergraduates and postgraduates, not repaid, and set by need, not household income (GOV.UK, n.d.). It can pay for specialist equipment, non-medical helpers such as a BSL interpreter, taxis if your disability stops you using public transport, and other disability-related study costs, but not costs any student has. You pay the first £200 of a new computer.
Applying, the needs assessment and timings
- Full-time undergraduates on courses starting before 1 January 2027 apply through their student finance account; part-time undergraduates and postgraduates use the DSA1 form, each year.
- Courses starting from 1 January 2027 go through the Lifelong Learning Entitlement; applications open at the end of October 2026.
- The needs assessment is "not a test", GOV.UK says. No decision comes before it, and equipment bought beforehand is not refunded.
- Timing: you hear within 4 weeks whether you qualify; support can take up to 14 weeks to arrange.
- Turned down: ask Student Finance England for an explanation or a review.
The guide covers students living in England; elsewhere in the UK, ask your own student finance body. Equipment bought with DSA stays yours, while the university pays for its own exam arrangements and accessible materials (Equality and Human Rights Commission, 2014b).
Do I have to tell my university I am disabled?
No, telling your university is voluntary, but it cannot make an adjustment nobody has asked for. OCR puts it plainly: to get an academic adjustment you must identify yourself as having a disability, and a US college is not required to identify you or assess your needs.
In England, Scotland and Wales you can ask for your disability to be kept confidential, and the university must weigh that request; the Equality and Human Rights Commission (2014a) notes it may mean a different, sometimes less effective, adjustment. Manchester says registering will not appear on your degree certificate or be passed to employers (University of Manchester Disability Advisory and Support Service, n.d.-b), and Berkeley's letters to instructors do not say what your disability is. Words for writing about disability are in inclusive and bias-free language.
What can I do if my request is refused?
Ask the disability service to review the decision, then use the university's complaints procedure and, after it, an independent body or a court.
In the UK
Queen Mary has a review form for exam arrangements. The EHRC's student guide says you need not complain internally first, and that a county court claim (sheriff court in Scotland) must normally start within six months, or nine if you complain to the Office of the Independent Adjudicator within six. The OIA reviews complaints about providers in England and Wales once you hold a Completion of Procedures Letter, and must receive yours within 12 months of it; unlike a court, it does not find that a provider discriminated (Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education, n.d.). In Scotland, complaints go to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman.
In the US and Australia
Almost every US college must have a Section 504 or ADA coordinator and a grievance procedure; after it, or instead, you may complain to OCR or go to court. OCR's complaint pages refused our requests, so we give no time limit: check it before you wait. In Australia, the Standards say a complaint of a breach can be made to the Australian Human Rights Commission.
How does EdCitation help you plan work around an adjustment?
An adjustment changes when and how you work, not what the assignment asks. EdCitation's Check your paper is the best tool for reading that brief: free, with no account, it turns instructions into a checklist and shows each rule beside the sentence it came from, so a tired reader checks the list against the brief instead of rereading it. EdCitation never writes any part of anyone's work: the plan, the essay and every word stay yours, and so does the credit.
What our test brief returned
We wrote this brief for an invented module and pasted it in on 2 October 2026:
Module EDU2214 Inclusive Practice: case study. Write a case study of 2,000 words (plus or minus 10%, excluding the reference list) on how one school or college supports a learner. Use the headings Introduction, Context, Analysis, Recommendations, and Conclusion. Cite at least eight sources, at least five of them published in the last five years, in APA 7th edition style. Use 12-point Arial, double line spacing and 2.5 cm margins. Submit through the module page by 12:00 on Friday of week 9. Students with an agreed extension in their support plan should submit by the date their plan gives.
It returned nine rules, each with its sentence: Font, Arial; Font size, 12 pt; Line spacing, 2 ×; Margins, 0.98 in; Word count, 1,800 to 2,200 words; Sources, at least 8; Source dates, "At least 5 sources: from the last 5 years"; Citation style, "APA 7"; Required headings, Introduction, Context, Analysis, Recommendations and Conclusion. It set two sentences aside as ones no rule can test: "Submit through the module page by 12:00 on Friday of week 9." and "Students with an agreed extension in their support plan should submit by the date their plan gives."
Those two lines matter most. The checklist cannot know your plan, so put your own date in your calendar, and if brief and plan disagree, ask the service before the original deadline. Planning the weeks is in time management for students.
Quick questions
Do I need a diagnosis to get reasonable adjustments?
Usually you need evidence, not always a final diagnosis. Edinburgh accepts a GP's referral letter while you wait for an ADHD or autism diagnosis, and Ohio State may approve provisional accommodations for one semester.
How much extra time do disabled students get in exams?
It is set for each student. Queen Mary University of London says UK students with dyslexia typically receive 25%; Berkeley lists 150% time among its accommodations.
Do I have to pay back Disabled Students' Allowance?
No. DSA in England is not repaid and does not depend on household income; it pays up to £27,783 a year, after a needs assessment.
Do high school accommodations carry over to college?
Not automatically. OCR says an IEP or 504 plan is generally not enough documentation alone, though some colleges, Ohio State among them, accept it.
Can EdCitation help me plan coursework with an adjustment?
Yes. EdCitation's free Check your paper turns a brief into a checklist of limits, headings, sources and style, and sets deadline sentences aside for your calendar; it never writes your work.
References
- Disability Standards for Education 2005 (Cth). Compilation of 1 August 2026. Federal Register of Legislation. https://www.legislation.gov.au/F2005L00767/latest/text
- Equality Act 2010, c. 15. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/15
- Equality and Human Rights Commission. (2014a). Equality Act 2010 technical guidance on further and higher education. https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/sites/default/files/equalityact2010-technicalguidance-feandhe-2015.pdf
- Equality and Human Rights Commission. (2014b). What equality law means for you as a student in further or higher education. https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/sites/default/files/what_equality_law_means_for_you_as_a_student_in_further_or_higher_education.pdf
- GOV.UK. (n.d.). Disabled Students' Allowance (DSA). Retrieved October 2, 2026, from https://www.gov.uk/disabled-students-allowance-dsa
- Office for Civil Rights. (2011). Students with disabilities preparing for postsecondary education: Know your rights and responsibilities. U.S. Department of Education. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED537242.pdf
- Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education. (n.d.). Can you complain to us? Retrieved October 2, 2026, from https://www.oiahe.org.uk/students/can-you-complain-to-us/
- Ohio State University Student Life Disability Services. (n.d.-a). Documentation guidelines. Retrieved October 2, 2026, from https://slds.osu.edu/how-to-register/registration-process/
- Ohio State University Student Life Disability Services. (n.d.-b). Exam accommodations. Retrieved October 2, 2026, from https://slds.osu.edu/registered-students/activating-your-accommodations/exam-accommodations
- Queen Mary University of London Disability and Dyslexia Service. (n.d.). Exams. Retrieved October 2, 2026, from https://www.qmul.ac.uk/disability-and-dyslexia-service/guidance/exams/
- Student Loans Company. (2026a). DSA disability evidence form for 2026 to 2027. GOV.UK. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6a6ca8c40c36759b5ccaa2ea/sfe_dsa_disability_evidence_form_2627_o.pdf
- Student Loans Company. (2026b). DSA1 notes: Disabled Students' Allowance guidance notes for 2026 to 2027. GOV.UK. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/69b16e9ecdd628b29e349641/sfe_dsa1_notes_2627_o.pdf
- University of California, Berkeley Disabled Students' Program. (n.d.-a). Accommodations: Requesting letters of accommodation. Retrieved October 2, 2026, from https://dsp.berkeley.edu/students/policies/accommodations-requesting-letters-accommodation
- University of California, Berkeley Disabled Students' Program. (n.d.-b). Application process. Retrieved October 2, 2026, from https://dsp.berkeley.edu/students/new-students/application-process
- University of Edinburgh Disability and Learning Support Service. (2024, July 22). Schedule of Adjustments. https://disability-learning-support-service.ed.ac.uk/students/factsheets/schedule-of-adjustments
- University of Edinburgh Disability and Learning Support Service. (2025, August 5). Supporting documentation. https://disability-learning-support-service.ed.ac.uk/students/supporting-documentation
- University of Manchester Disability Advisory and Support Service. (n.d.-a). Exam support. Retrieved October 2, 2026, from https://www.dass.manchester.ac.uk/what-support-can-i-get/exams/
- University of Manchester Disability Advisory and Support Service. (n.d.-b). How do I register? Retrieved October 2, 2026, from https://www.dass.manchester.ac.uk/how-do-i-get-support/how-do-i-register/
- University of Sydney. (2026, June 2). Inclusion and Disability Services. https://www.sydney.edu.au/students/disability-support.html