Neurodivergence and mental health conditions

Open Day information for those who are neurodivergent or who have mental health conditions such as anxiety.

Quiet spaces

It will be a very busy day and there will be a lot of visitors on campus, but we will have a number of designated Open Day ‘quiet spaces’ which are:

  • Central campus: 50 George Square, Room G.01
  • Central campus: 40 George Square, Lower Ground Room LG.10
  • Central campus: Informatics Forum, seating area
  • Central campus: McEwan Hall, Lower Ground, Robing Room
  • Edinburgh College of Art: Main Building, Room C.21
  • King’s Buildings: Nucleus Building, Hawthorn Room (Floor 2)

These rooms are there for you to use as and when you need to. Feel free to ask staff or student ambassadors for directions to these designated quiet spaces, or other quieter areas in whichever building you are in.

Priority seating for talks

If it would be helpful for you to choose a seat you feel most comfortable in for talks, for example at the end of a row or near an exit, we recommend arriving early for any talks you have booked to ensure that you are able to get a suitable seat. If you arrive after a talk has already started or when visitors are entering a lecture theatre, we will not be able to ensure this.

There will be a University staff member working at each lecture theatre venue, so if you let them know this requirement when you arrive (and you have arrived in good time) they will do their best to let you in to the talk first to get a suitable seat.

Accompanying guests

While our policy is to prioritise prospective students for busier talks, if you will require an accompanying guest in talks, to take notes or support you, let staff at the venue know and we can accommodate your guest.

Lanyards

We will be providing green lanyards for you, and if relevant a guest, to wear or carry with you. This will make it easier for our staff to identify who will require priority talk access and which accompanying guests are permitted to support students in talks. 

Using the lanyard means you will not need to explain your requirements at each talk venue. However, it is completely optional, so you do not need to take a lanyard if you are not comfortable with this arrangement.

You can collect lanyards from the following Helpdesks:

  • Central campus: Informatics Forum Helpdesk
  • Edinburgh College of Art: Main Building Helpdesk
  • King’s Buildings: Nucleus Building Helpdesk

Printed materials and presentations

We ask our staff to follow accessibility guidelines when creating their presentations. However, we appreciate that lecture slides may not be in a suitable format for all visitors.

If access to presentation slides would be helpful for you, let us know which talks you are interested in, and we can get in touch with the relevant departments to request a copy of their presentations for you. 

We cannot guarantee that these will be available in advance of the Open Day, but we will do our best to get these to you as soon as we can.

Most of our departments have moved to using digital materials rather than leaflets in an effort to be more sustainable, so we hope that any details provided at information desks will be accessible online in a format which is suitable for you. 

However, if you require print materials in a specific format, we will do our best to arrange this if you let us know in advance

Assistance dogs

Certified Assistance Dogs are permitted to access all University premises under the control of their handlers (or where necessary in order to control the Assistance Dog for a short period of time, someone other than the handler).

Ensure that they are clearly identifiable as an assistance dog so that our staff do not need to check, as only assistance dogs are allowed into University buildings.

Read our policy and guidelines on assistance dogs. The Assistance Dogs UK list has been expanded since this policy was published.

Disability and Learning Support Service information desk

You will be able to speak with staff from our Disability and Learning Support Service at their information desk, located in McEwan Hall from 10am to 4pm.

Their role is to provide support to prospective and current students who are considering studying at the University of Edinburgh who have a disability, learning difference, neurodivergent or health condition that may impact on their studies. 

They will be very happy to speak with you on the day about your specific support needs in relation to studying at the University of Edinburgh. You can also get in touch with them outside of the Open Day.

Disability and Learning Support Service website

Contact us

We appreciate that everyone’s individual needs are different, and will be in touch by email if your particular requirements are not covered here. You can also get in touch with us if you have any questions or would like to discuss arrangements.

Email ug.recruitment@ed.ac.uk

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