Improving theexperienceof disabledstudents

As a Forum, we recognise that any discussionsurrounding disabled students sits within thebroader context of equality and diversity withinhigher education. We certainly don’t considerdisability to be more important than any otheraspect of equality and diversity, and when wedevelop recommendations for key topics weaim to ensure that our approach is inclusive ofas wide a range of perspectives as possible.Nevertheless, having considered issues that wereraised by the student juries and in the light ofsome of our own experiences, last year we held asubgroup to explore some of the issues that areparticular to this group of students in more detail.The subgroup developed draft proposals forimproving the experience of disabled students,for further consideration and reﬁnement bythe full Forum this year. We invited the EqualityChallenge Unit to work alongside us to identifya number of ways in which universities cansupport disabled students, along with severalrecommendations for Government andpartner organisations.We were delighted to learn that much is alreadyhappening in the sector to improve the disabledstudent experience. Some examples both at anational and institutional level include:Government published a statistical report ondisabled students in higher education in May2009, exploring both the issues faced by, andthe progression of, disabled students*HE Academy convened a year long summitprogramme on inclusive learning and teaching inassociation with the ECU and Equality Forwardin 2009. It is completing research on theexperiences of ten institutions developing andembedding inclusive policy and practice. It haspublished a series of resource bulletins focusingon inclusive learning and teaching. With the ECU,it is in the process of updating its current versionof

Disability Legislation: Practical Guidance for Academics,

which highlights inclusive practicewhen teaching disabled studentsECU (funded by HEFCE) has commissionedthe

Inclusive campus: practical guidanceon sensory accessibility

research projectto improve general accessibility and theaccessibility of student services and teachingenvironments for sensory-impaired students.Findings will be available later in 2009Aimhigher North London (now AimhigherWECAN) is continuing with its successfulThis-Ability ambassador programme in whichdisabled students and recent graduates workwith disabled school pupils to encourage themto enter higher educationAnglia Ruskin University has developed ablended learning module on inclusive practice(accredited by the Staff and EducationalDevelopment Association), which will shortly beavailable to academic and support staffWe welcome this focus, and look forward to theimprovements that these initiatives will hopefullybring. However, we don’t think that there is roomfor complacency, and there is still more to bedone to ensure that all disabled students have apositive experience of higher education.With this in mind, and in order to further developour recommendations from last year in this area,we reviewed some of the persisting issues facedby disabled students as identiﬁed by the Forum’ssubgroup in 07/08. In summary these comprise:

1. The need for more tailored informationbefore entry into higher educationabout:

what learning support is availablehow accessible different aspects of universitylife are

2. Insufﬁcient awareness of the specialistﬁnancial support available3. Misconceptions and stigma thatunwittingly perpetuate discrimination, such as:

well-intentioned assumption e.g.

somestaff assume that all disabled students will automatically have issues with time management

subconscious discrimination e.g.

whendisclosure of a disability sometimes leadsto subsequent problems in obtaining work placements or affects expectations of performance during assessment processes

4. Academic disadvantage arising from:

uneven access to electronic textbooks andthe inconsistent provision of transcription andinterpretation servicesinsufﬁcient training and awareness for teachingstaff about accessible approachespatchy use of personal development plans(PDPs), which can be a particularly powerfulsupport tool for disabled students whenimplemented effectively

5. Non-academic challenges arising frominsufﬁciently accessible:

orientation processesaccommodationsocial activities and opportunitiesA more comprehensive overview of ourdiscussions last year can be found in our 2008report

†

. We outline below our suggestions for theways in which universities can help to supportdisabled students, along with some examplesof institutions who are already implementingexcellent initiatives to do so.

Improvingtheexperienceof disabled students

http://www.dius.gov.uk/~/media/publications/D/DIUS_RR_09_06

†

http://www.dius.gov.uk/higher_education/students/student_listening_programme/national_student_forum

73 National Student Forum – Annual Report

1. Improve IAG for prospective disabled students

actively promote the involvement of disabledstudents in all student ambassador schemes include tailored information, advice andguidance on the speciﬁc provision for disabledstudents at individual universities

74 National Student Forum – Annual Report

How can universities anddisabled students?

The NSF was set up to help to deﬁne ‘a reasonable student experience’ and to make recommendations to Government to help to achieve this. However,many of our suggestions for improvement fall within the gift of individual universities and colleges, rather than government policy. Therefore, we have outlined recommended practice for universities and colleges in each of our key discussion areas, against which we invite individual institutions to measure their current practice.We readily acknowledge that many universities and colleges may already be implementing some of these practices, but urge all institutions to consider whether adopting new ways of working and/or reviewing the extent to which guidance is being implemented in practice, could lead to further improvement in this area.

To improve the experience of disabled students, wewould like to see all universities and colleges:

rai sing a warene s s o f di sabili t y i s sue s through a warene s s week s

The Uni versi t y o f the Ar ts London is one o f man y uni versi ties tha t raises a wareness o f disabili t y issues through disabili t y a wareness weeks. In March 200 9, Uni versi t y o f the Ar ts London held i ts ﬁrs t Disabili t y Week to raise a wareness o f ar t in formed b y disabili t y and the e xperiences o f disabled ar tis ts and s tuden ts, as well as e xplore the access issues faced b y ar ts ins ti tu tions. The week focused on raising a wareness o f bo th visible and hidden disabili ties such as men tal heal th and d ysle xia and opened wi th a headline ‘Are the Ar ts inclusi ve? ’ deba te. I t was follo wed b y 17 e ven ts, including the screening o f ﬁlms, ar tis t talks, e xhibi tions, disabili t y a wareness training, a s tuden t assembl y, and consul ta tion and careers de velopmen t for disabled s tuden ts.

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embedding di sabili t y a warene s s in to CPD for teac hing and managemen t s ta f f

E xample 1: The Uni versi t y o f Li verpool o f fers disabili t y a wareness training for all s ta f f wi thin the uni versi t y, par ticularl y those who ha ve con tac t wi th s tuden ts and those wi th managemen t responsibili ties. I t o f fers hal f da y training in di versi t y and equali t y prac tices as par t o f i ts con tinuing pro fessional de velopmen t programme. The course is designed to enhance s ta f f ’s unders tanding and a wareness o f disabili t y and the responsibili ties o f the Uni versi t y and s ta f f when working wi th s tuden ts who are disabled. See h t tp:// w w w.li v.ac.uk/hr/equali t y/ Tools _ and _ Good _ Prac tice.h tm for more in forma tion.E xample 2: In 2004 the Uni versi t y o f York ob tained £14,000 from HEFCE to fund and suppor t nine depar tmen tal de velopmen t pro jec ts which ha ve in tegra ted equali t y and di versi t y (E&D ) in to curriculum and teaching and learning. Pro jec ts included:• se t ting up a S ta f f Peer Appraisal Group in the biolog y depar tmen t to moni tor issues concerning equali t y and di versi t y wi thin the curriculum. The depar tmen t has produced a super visor ’s handbook to include in forma tion on E&D equali t y and di versi t y training and guidance for indi viduals wi th a teaching or pas toral role. • the de velopmen t o f an e-based learning tool for academic s ta f f to suppor t disabili t y a wareness in the con te x t o f teaching and learning.