What does a Disability Liaison Officer do?

Trinity has a well-established support system at School-level to ensure the needs of students with disabilities are addressed. Each school has a nominated staff member who is a key contact within the School for issues relating to disability support, called a Disability Liaison Officer (DLO).

Disability Liaison Officers Logo superimposed on a blue image of students walking through Trinity College Dublin

The role of the School DLO is to oversee/monitor the School's process to ensure the effective dissemination and implementation of Reasonable Accommodations proposed by the DS. The DLO responsibilities include the following:

  • To ensure that School staff who need to be aware of students' Reasonable Accommodations have access to the information in SITS.
  • To raise with the relevant Director of Teaching & Learning and/or the Disability Service any concerns regarding accommodations that may impact the academic integrity or core competence standards of teaching and learning within the School.  
  • Liaising with Disability Service staff, their School's Directors of Teaching & Learning and Programme/Course Directors, and assisting in making Reasonable Accommodations for students, and exchanging information as required.
  • The DLO is the first point of contact for students with disabilities when dealing with disability queries.
  • The DLO should have a general awareness and understanding of University and school policies, procedures, and practices, and how these may impact on students with disabilities and long term conditions.     
  • The DLO should also have an awareness and understanding of Equality and Disability legislation, to ensure that their school is compliant with the legislation and is promoting inclusive learning for all students
  • The DLO is not expected to have expert knowledge of disability issues. However, it is important that they work in collaboration with the Disability Service to identify training needs within the school.
  • To be part of a University-wide network of DLOs for the purposes of sharing expertise, good practice and relevant knowledge, skills, and experience. The network will be supported by the DS
  • To report to Academic Registry any technical issues with the SITS system for sharing students’ (LENS) Reasonable Accommodations
  • To develop effective working relationships and establish positive lines of communication with the DS
  • To attend training, workshops, and information events organised by DS.

A list of all DLOs in Schools provided as part of the set up of dissemination of LENS information in SITS are given here. DLO roles and responsibilities are listed below.

How to find your Disability Liaison Officer

Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences

NameEmailTelephone

Disability Officer

School contact

Business David Byrne david.byrne@tcd.ie   Gerard Gallagher - gallagg5@tcd.ie
Creative Arts Dr. Nick Johnson johnson@tcd.ie 01 896 2295 Declan Treanor - dtreanor@tcd.ie
Education Dr. John Kubiak kubiak@tcd.ie 01 896 3442 Aisling Claffey - claffea1@tcd.ie
English Rosie Lavan lavanro@tcd.ie 01 896 2337 Kieran Lewis - klewis@tcd.ie
Histories and Humanities Robert Armstrong robert.armstrong@tcd.ie 01-896 1578 Kevan O'Rourke - orourkk3@tcd.ie
Languages, Literature and Cultural Studies Dr. Rachel Hoare rmhoare@tcd.ie 01 896 1842 Andrew Costello - acostel@tcd.ie
Law Liz Heffernan hefferl@tcd.ie 01 896 1625 Eithne Coleman - colemaei@tcd.ie
Linguistic, Speech, and Communication Studies Prof. Ailbhe Ni Chasaide anichsid@tcd.ie 01 896 1348 Andrew Costello - acostel@tcd.ie
Psychology Lorraine Swords swordsl@tcd.ie 01 896 3638 Gerard Gallagher - gallagg5@tcd.ie
Social Science and Philosophy Dr. Michelle D'Arcy darcym1@tcd.ie 01 896 5003 Gerard Gallagher - gallagg5@tcd.ie
School of Religion Alexandra Grieser griesera@tcd.ie 01 896 4777 Kevan O'Rourke - orourkk3@tcd.ie
Faculty of Engineering, Mathematics, and Science        
Biochemistry and Immunology Ms. Martha Motherway Gildea  motherm@tcd.ie 01 896 4257 Gerard Gallagher - gallagg5@tcd.ie
Chemistry Iouri Gounko igounko@tcd.ie 01 896 3562 Declan Treanor - dtreanor@tcd.ie
Computer Science and Statistics Paula Roberts  paula.roberts@tcd.ie 01 896 2517 Andrew Costello - acostel@tcd.ie
Engineering Patricia Hughes pahughes@tcd.ie 01 896 1383 Eithne Coleman - colemaei@tcd.ie
Genetics and Microbiology Adrian Bracken  adrian.bracken@tcd.ie 01 896 3695 Kieran Lewis - klewis@tcd.ie
Mathematics Ms. Karen O'Doherty kodohert@tcd.ie 01 896 1889 Andrew Costello - acostel@tcd.ie
Natural Sciences Dr. Catherine Coxon cecoxon@tcd.ie 01 896 2235 Gerard Gallagher - gallagg5@tcd.ie
Physics Dr. Plamel Stamenov stamenov.plamen@tcd.ie 01 896 4350 Kevan O'Rourke - orourkk3@tcd.ie
Faculty of Health Sciences         
Dental Science Heather Reilly hereilly@tcd.ie 01 612 7275 Declan Treanor - dtreanor@tcd.ie
Medicine Sharon Thompson sthomps@tcd.ie 01 896 3829 Gerard Gallagher - gallagg5@tcd.ie
Radiation Therapy Claire Poole poolec@tcd.ie 01 896 2973 Clare Malone - malonec6@tcd.ie
Nursing & Midwifery Valerie Smith smithv1@tcd.ie 01 896 4031 Kieran Lewis - klewis@tcd.ie
Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences Helen Sheridan hsheridan@tcd.ie 01 896 2806 Eithne Coleman - colemaei@tcd.ie
Occupational Therapy Dr. Clodagh Nolan nolancl@tcd.ie 01 896 3211 Anna Galvin - angalvin@tcd.ie
Physiotherapy Sarah McLaughlin physio@tcd.ie 01 896 2110 Anna Galvin - angalvin@tcd.ie
Human Nutrition & Dietetics Dr. Annemarie Bennett annemarie.bennett@tcd.ie 01 896 2477 Declan Treanor - dtreanor@tcd.ie