BCOM publishes a Disability Equality Scheme and Action Plan, which is available to its students and staff via the College intranet, Osteonet.

Each applicant to the British College of Osteopathic Medicine is considered on an individual basis and we welcome applications from students with disabilities.

You can obtain advice from the Academic Registrar at any stage of the application process. The registrar can be e-mailed at kk@bcom.ac.uk or written to at BCOM, Lief House, 120 – 122 Finchley Road, London, NW3 5HR.

All applications to the College will be initially processed, along with all other applications, to see whether the applicant meets the entry requirements. This will be undertaken without reference to disability.

Details of disability given on UCAS forms will be highlighted and discussed at the interview stage of the admissions process.

If you have a disability, including dyslexia, we would like to be made aware of this as soon as possible. Your disclosure will be treated in a positive, sensitive and constructive manner and will enable the College to support you in your studies. The College will endeavour to make all reasonable adjustments in order to support disabled candidates in their studies. However, because the college offers solely vocational courses, which allow entry into the Osteopathic profession, there are certain limits on the adjustments to the core course content that can be made.

For example, a core element of the course is the teaching of osteopathic technique. This demands, hand / eye coordination and fine motor skills in the practice of all techniques. Many techniques that are essential to Osteopathic practice also demand a high level of mobility in order to carry out essential manipulation and mobilisation. These are needed in order to treat most patients. Osteopathic technique is taught through all years of the course.

It is very important to ascertain at an early stage whether a candidate will be able to fulfill the core elements of the course and whether, on graduation, applicants will be fit to practice as Osteopaths. The osteopathic professional regulatory body, the General Osteopathic Council, is responsible for making sure that registered professionals are ‘fit to practice’ i.e. that they are able to carry out their duties competently without undue risk to patients. However, as professional bodies do not interview or train students, the onus is on institutions such as The British College of Osteopathic Medicine to ensure that only students who are ‘fit to practice’ their vocation are admitted to, and graduate from, the Osteopathic Medicine programme. The College approaches this on an individual basis.