What is Disability Disclosure?

Trinity encourages students with disabilities to disclose information on their disability/specific learning difficulty to the Disability Service before they apply to Trinity or at any point during their studies. Such disclosure is encouraged so that Trinity can work with the student in ensuring that any reasonable accommodation required is identified and facilitated in consultation with the student.

Students must accept and agree to the Consent to Disclose and Share Disability Information in order for a needs assessment to be completed and for reasonable accommodations to be provided. Students' explicit consent will be required via my.tcd.ie to allow the Disability Service to implement and communicate their reasonable accommodations via a Lens report.

Information about disability is classed as sensitive personal data and will be processed by the University in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998 (as amended) and the University's Data Protection Policy.

The University cannot pass on personal or sensitive information without the student's written permission.  When the student applies for reasonable accommodations with the Disability Service (DS), they are asked to agree to a 'Consent to disclose and share disability information form' allowing the DS to forward on any relevant information regarding their disability and/or support needs.  This allows the DS to forward the LENS report via the student record in SITS. General background details of the student's specific disability may be included in the LENS if the student wants to share this information and confirms consent to disclose this information. A student is not obliged to reveal detailed information to the School about their disability.  In some instances, it may be useful for the School to know, but in many cases, it may not be relevant to the Reasonable Accommodation support.  A discussion about disability disclosure usually takes place between the DS Disability Officer and the student with the student deciding what information may be passed on when the LENS is approved by the student.

The Trinity College Dublin Consent to Disclose and Share Disability Information aims to provide a high standard of service to students with disabilities. The consent to disclose and share Disability Information has two main purposes:

1. To outline for students with disabilities their rights and responsibilities in receiving reasonable accommodations while studying at Trinity
2. To define Trinity's rights and responsibilities to students with disabilities and the College community

All students applying for reasonable accommodation with the Disability Service can download a copy of the Trinity Consent to Disclose Disability Information Form.