They also provided me with a Braille note-taker for tutorials. The OU have a pool of loan equipment which disabled students can borrow free of charge. In special circumstances they will purchase a specific piece of equipment if required, to help you pass the course. The OU have begun a new course material service called ReadOut . This makes it very easy to scan books and units, to find references and short sections you need to read.
Most regional offices have a regional disability co-ordinator.
For example, during my second year some of my tapes hadn t arrived on time. The representative from my regional office read to me via the telephone what I required to pass an assignment. There s always someone on the end of the phone for support. You can often make special arrangements for submitting assignments for marking by your tutor. Last year I sent my assignments as a text file on a computer disk.