Please re-open deleted answer provided by self-same OP: Caregiver of disabled teenager returning to study, but can't find funding. (UK) Any thoughts?

There is material in the deleted answer that in my opinion makes a significant contribution toward answering the original question.

The question has to do with special challenges faced by UK carers (=caregiver of family member with a disability in my own, US version of English). The OP contributed, in the deleted answer, the following action steps that look promising for helping with this general problem, in the long term:

  • include info about carer role in thesis (apparently this ties into the thesis topic in this case)
  • get the student union to take up the issue of carers
  • ask that Student Records include carers in the equality and diversity questions
  • recommend carers be considered under the university's Widening Participation policy
  • explain to the Vice Dean of the Faculty what a carer is

One idea I had was to modify the question slightly to enable the answer to be reinstated.

I could not find a button to press to propose that the answer be reinstated.

If I didn't couch this in the right way, may I request that some helpful soul edit my title/body/tag(s)? Thank you.

Edit 9/28/16:

A belated thank you to the moderators for reinstating the answer after I edited it for the OP.

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The post you refer to was flagged as "not an answer" and then got several delete votes in the review queue.

This is because its content seemed to be intended as a response to other answers and comments. It looked as though the OP was unfamiliar with the Q&A format of this site, and simply thought that (like many forums on the Internet), they should add a new post to continue the "thread".

If the OP actually wants to self-answer the question, that's certainly encouraged. There are two ways he/she can do that:

  • Edit the deleted post so that its content is clearly intended to be an answer, and does not contain material that is a response to other comments or answers. Then raise a moderator flag (custom flag) indicating that this post is now intended to be an actual answer to the question.
  • Post a new answer whose content is clearly intended to be an answer, and does not contain material that is a response to other comments or answers. (Material that is a response to other users or further clarification of the OP's situation belongs either in the original question, if it is useful to others who will want to answer the question, or in comments on the relevant answers otherwise.)

Either way, there should be some indication from the OP that the post is actually intended to answer the question. Right now, the language of the post suggests that it was intended as a response to others and further clarification of the OP's situation, not an answer to "How to find funding."

For the benefit of those reading who can't see deleted answers, here is the post you are referring to:

These answers have been really useful, thank you to everyone, I really appreciate it. There are some great ideas here and I will post updates with any outcomes, and hopefully this will help the next Carer applying for studentships - the key message is to get this into the support letters from the start. I know I am disadvantaged by having already started, but it's not unheard of to get funding mid-doctorate.

My first years part time were funded by my part-time work in a related industry, but due to my teaching and PhD commitments, and Carer commitments, I haven't had time to seek more clients. So that's dried up. I also received a discretionary fund fee waiver for the fees - this wasn't an advertised hardship fund, this was a result of asking and asking until finally finding something was available. You are only supposed to apply to this once during your degree, but I have applied once again because there just is nothing else. Awaiting outcome.

I've had success with small funding for trips abroad to conferences and considerable success with funding for public engagement projects - but I can't pay my living costs or wages with that.

My supervisor thinks that my identity as a carer is something that we can't seem to escape from, so we it is something that will be addressed in my thesis (that's ok with me, and it sits nicely with my ambition to teach creative writing and to explore under-represented groups in film and tv.)

I never intended to campaign on this issue, but since posting this question, I have been successful in getting the student union to take up the issue of Carers at our university as one of their priority vulnerable groups, and the first thing we will ask for is for Student Records to include Carers in the equality and diversity questions (not a statutory requirement for this data to be collected, but why not). Our university is behind others in offering support and recognition for carers. Secondly, within the graduate school, the student advisor I was talking to has recommended Carers be considered under the university's Widening Participation policy. And just the other day, I got to explain to the Vice Dean of the Faculty what a Carer is - It's someone who looks after someone else who has a life limiting condition such as a disability or illness for more than 35 number of hours per week (that's the statuory number of hours in order to apply for Carer's Allowance, a means tested benefit).

So, no studentship yet but I have delegated my campaigning tendencies! I will keep this trail updated and hope others continue to contribute.

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  • I've notified the OP with a comment linking to this meta discussion, so that he can decide what to do. – Massimo Ortolano Sep 25 '16 at 5:52
  • @MassimoOrtolano - Thank you, but I need to make a decision about my bounty on the original question. With the OP's carer responsibilities it is doubtful this is enough notice. I need to find a way to give the OP credit for the contributions listed in the above bullets. – aparente001 Sep 25 '16 at 15:19

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