The Disability and Dyslexia Service can make recommendations for reasonable adjustments to campus accommodation (including provision of specialist equipment) for new students who meet the accommodation guarantee criteria. We can also assess applications from other students who are applying for accommodation on disability and medical grounds.
Students with a disability or medical condition who wish to apply for campus accommodation MUST:
Further details regarding the application process are available on Housing Services’ website.
Please note that all room allocations are made at the discretion of Housing Services.
Housing Service's publish the application deadlines on their website, so you can regularly check when the deadline for your next academic year is. In addition to this, anyone who has been supported by the Disability and Dyslexia Service in the previous academic year will receive email reminders from us to ensure applications are made before the deadlines.
If, however, you are unable to apply by the deadline you can still apply for accommodation using the usual application process. Your application will be assessed as usual, and you will be informed of our decision. Even if your application is supported, however, we cannot guarantee you will be housed, due to extremely limited availability.
As such, if you have applied after the deadline we would strongly recommend you seek private local accommodation. Housing Services are able to support you with this.
The Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) accommodation guarantee offer means that all new, full-time registered students who meet the eligibility criteria are guaranteed a room in a QMUL hall of residence or with one of our partner providers. If you are eligible for the guarantee offer and would like to have your needs considered when allocating you a room, please read the medical/disability circumstances advice provided on the Accommodation website. You must submit valid evidence and meet with a DDS adviser who can assess your needs and make recommendations for accommodation adjustments to housing services. Recommendations can include provision of specialist equipment; accessibility requirements (for example step-free access); allocation of an en-suite bathroom.
With over 30,000 students, demand for campus accommodation surpasses availability at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL). As such, students with a disability or medical condition who are not eligible for the accommodation guarantee offer for new students* cannot be guaranteed a room. The Disability and Dyslexia Service adheres to the following criteria when prioritising requests, although all cases are treated according to individual merit:
Students with disabilities or medical conditions outside these criteria will still be considered, particularly when there are other extenuating circumstances involved. However, they cannot be guaranteed campus accommodation. Please note that the Disability and Dyslexia Service can only consider requests for accommodation on the grounds of disability.
It is unlikely that we would support a housing application on the grounds of a diagnosis of Specific Learning Differences, e.g. dyslexia.
*(This includes: new students who have applied late or selected QMUL as their insurance choice; returning students).
Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) has wheelchair accessible accommodation at the Mile End Campus in Feilden House (Housing Services information page) and Chapman House (Housing Services information page).
There are a total of 12 rooms available for wheelchair users; ten in Feilden House, which is allocated exclusively to undergraduate students, with a further two wheelchair accessible rooms in Chapman House.
Whilst every effort has been made to ensure that all of these facilities are as accessible as possible, if you require additional equipment or specialist furniture we would advise you to indicate this as soon as possible when you apply to live on campus. This will give the us time to advocate on your behalf and to find out if the requested adjustments are possible. Some students have forwarded us Occupational Therapist’s assessment reports in advance, which can be helpful. Feilden and Chapman have automatic door openers going into the buildings. Most of these rooms have fully accessible ‘wetroom’ style bathrooms which have been assessed by an external auditor as being suitable for both manual and electric wheelchair users. In addition, all of the rooms earmarked for electric wheelchair users – ten in Feilden and one in Chapman - have automatic door openers which are operated via a card-reader or pushbutton system.
If you would like to come and view the rooms before application please contact the Disability and Dyslexia Service and we will try to arrange this for you.
There is one carer’s room available adjacent to one of the wheelchair accessible rooms in Chapman House and five carer’s rooms directly adjacent to five of the wheelchair accessible rooms in Feilden House.
Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) are not in a position to provide students with any overnight care, although student well-being services including the Disability and Dyslexia Service and the Advice and Counselling Service can provide information, advice and guidance on how you might secure funding for this provision, if necessary.
Regrettably, if you are unable to transfer independently from your bed into your wheelchair then we cannot offer you a room on campus unless you have someone on hand to provide this support for you, e.g. a carer. This is because we cannot guarantee your safe evacuation in the event of a fire or similar emergency as we cannot guarantee staff availability on a 24/7 basis. We currently have a total of six carers rooms available.
To speak to someone about any of these issues, please contact the Disability and Dyslexia Service on 020 7882 2756 or email DDS.
More information about carer's rooms is available on Housing Services webpages.
Staff in Housing Services can offer support on finding appropriate local private housing.
Each student who indicates that they have a disability which they would like to have considered when making a housing allocation will be sent a link to QMUL's Personal Emergency Evacuation Plan Questionnaire. Those students who indicate they would need support evacuating in the event of a fire alarm activation will be required to complete this prior to moving onto campus.
Chapman House has wheelchair accessible rooms on the ground floor, but there is no ground floor wheelchair accessible accommodation in Feilden House.
Feilden House has been fitted with two evacuation lifts. These are operated by members of our Security team or the fire brigade.
Assessment is made on a case-by-case basis. Disabled students can, however, apply for campus accommodation every year (if they wish). The criteria used when recommending campus accommodation can be found above. Please note that recommendations are made for term-time accommodation only.
If you do not wish to apply for campus accommodation in future years, or are unsuccessful in doing so, our Housing Services team would be pleased to assist you in finding appropriate local accommodation. Please see Housing Services website for more information.
Your medical evidence MUST be:
Note that we cannot accept medical evidence if:
If you do not have acceptable medical evidence you can use a Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) Request for Medical Evidence Form [DOC 23KB], which can be printed and taken to your GP/Medical Practitioner for completion. In a small number of cases the Disability and Dyslexia Service may request additional information/medical evidence to ensure your application is comprehensively assessed.
* If you are an overseas student who will be entering into your first year at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) then medical evidence from overseas will be acceptable. It MUST, however be provided in English (if original documents are not in English then an authorised translation MUST be provided)
For more information about the Student Health Service please see their website.
After the Disability and Dyslexia Service have assessed your application you will be contacted via email. If a recommendation is made then the email will contain details of the type of room recommended. This will vary depending on the nature of your disability or medical condition. Commonly DDS would recommend standard (a flat with shared bathroom facilities); en-suite (a room with its own bathroom facilities); or wheelchair accessible (all wheelchair accessible rooms are en-suite) rooms. Please note that DDS cannot recommend a specific hall. Where students may require a specific room-type for disability-related reasons, QMUL will assimilate the cost of your recommended room to that of similar standard plus accommodation.
Following a recommendation from DDS, Housing Services will contact students when they carry out room allocations. This is usually in July for those students starting their studies in September. Housing Services can provide more information about room allocation dates.
QMUL has worked with AccessAble in order to produce Access Guides for our campuses. General access guides are available online here. Access guides for specific halls of residence can be found below:
Please Note: Even if DDS have not recommended campus accommodation, or recommended standard accommodation rather than en-suite, this does not affect your overall application for campus accommodation. This will be processed in the usual way by Housing Services. As such, if your application for campus accommodation was made before the deadline set by Housing Services, QMUL will endeavour to allocate you a room based upon the wishes you expressed on your application, subject to availability. Allocations will be prioritised using the criteria listed on Housing Services website.
If you are not satisfied and wish to have your application reviewed you should send an email, with any additional supporting information to Housing Services, stating your student number and that you would like your campus accommodation application to be reviewed by the Estates and Facilities review panel.
A request can also be made to Housing Services to be added to their waiting list, but there is no guarantee that you will be housed.