Disability Support Service for students with disabilities/learning differences/health conditions
The MTU Disability Support Service (DSS) Cork campus welcomes MTU higher education students with a learning difference, disability or health condition to apply for supports / reasonable accommodations that they may need for their studies. We can guide and support you to access your courses and we work hard to ensure that the DSS is a place that you can go to in confidence to look for support and help.
The DSS is supported by the Fund for Students with Disabilities which is managed by the Higher Education Authority on behalf of the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science.
Contacting the DSS
- Email us at dssCork@mtu.ie
Email is the quickest way of receiving a response from DSS staff as staff are working both on campus/remotely and we may be busy meeting students when you call. Make sure to include your name, MTU student number or CAO number, and date of birth in any emails.
But please note that due to GDPR we cannot discuss a student's details without written consent from their student email address.
See our Meet the DSS team page for more contact details information.
Our emails are checked regularly - Monday to Friday 8.30am to 4.30pm.
The Access Service administrator is available at the front desk of the Access Service office (ground floor of the Student Centre) to answer any drop in queries on campus or you can ring 021 433 5138 with an urgent query.
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DSS Supports available
- The DSS supports a wide range of full time and part time students across all Cork campuses. Please click on the pages to the left for more details of some of the supports available.
- Students need to apply for DSS supports first before they can access any of the reasonable accommodations/supports. See our Applying for Supports page and Student Guide for more information.
- We would encourage students who may need supports while they are at MTU to apply for supports as early as possible in the academic year, but they can do so any time of the year.
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Confidentiality
MTU DSS (Cork campus) operates a strict confidentiality policy and we cannot disclose any information about the student to parents, lecturers, etc. unless we have the student's consent. Information that students share with us is confidential unless some information you disclose to the DSS may be considered to put us on notice of a serious health and safety /child protection risk to you and/or other students/staff, the Institute has a legal duty of care to ensure that you and/or other students/staff are safe. In this case we may need share this information but we would ideally speak to the student first. Personal data will be removed/protected from any such information that needs to be shared in so far as possible.
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Fund for Students with Disabilities
There is a fund available to eligible students with disabilities called the Fund for Students with Disabilities which can provide specific academic supports, personal assistants, sign language interpreters etc.
The Disability Support Officer makes applications to the Fund on behalf of an eligible student after an assessment of need with the student and the funding is provided directly to the univeristy to provide supports. For more information on financial support please see our Financial Support page and www.studentfinance.ie
The Fund for Students with Disabilities is funded by the Government of Ireland and is managed by the Higher Education Authority on behalf of the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science.