What is being consulted on
The UK government is consulting on whether to replace funded specialist assistive software, currently provided under the Disabled Students' Allowance, with mainstream consumer alternatives.
Mainstream technology is built for mainstream users. It changes without warning. Accessibility features break overnight when apps update. For disabled students who depend on specialist software, this is not an inconvenience — it is a barrier to education.
Specialist assistive software provides stability, genuine personalisation, and real independence. Consumer tools were never designed for these needs. The decision-makers have asked for public response before deciding.
Your experience is evidence. If mainstream technology has ever failed you — if an app changed overnight and left you without access, if a system never understood your voice, if the tools built for everyone never quite worked for you — this is the moment to say so. Directly. To the people making this decision.
What to say
Anything true to your experience. There is no required format and no minimum length. The questions that carry weight are:
- What technology do you depend on, and why?
- What would losing funded specialist software mean for you, specifically?
- Have mainstream consumer tools failed you in moments when it mattered? When, and how?
Your own words carry far more weight than any template. A short, specific account of one moment that mainstream tools didn't get right will land harder than a long argument in the abstract.