Disability in higher education

Guidance on actions and policies that ensure disabled students and staff can participate fully in university life and flourish in their studies and work. These resources look at how to remove barriers to access in teaching, research activities and academic posts. The advice covers specifics such as ensuring accessibility of course materials, adapting assessment practices, factoring accessibility into field work, understanding the needs of neurodiverse students and staff and developing support services that enhance disabled students' experiences of higher education.

Make your higher education meetings neurodivergent-friendly

For neurodivergent staff, meetings can be something to dread. Here’s how to make them feel comfortable and get the best out of them

Jamie Wilde

University of Southampton

‘Reflective learning is becoming a meaningless buzzword’

Lip service to reflective learning is eroding its potential for confronting ingrained beliefs and encouraging students to explore new ways of thinking, writes Ella Houston. Here, she shares practical strategies for promoting the transgressive aspects of reflection

Ella Houston

Liverpool Hope University

Candidate in wheelchair in job interview

Beyond lived experience: choosing effective candidates for identified roles

Roles that centre diversity, equity and inclusion research and practice should be filled by candidates with lived experience. For recruitment teams outside these communities, however, it is not always clear what to consider or what to ask in an interview

Brooke Szücs

The University of Queensland

How can we better support female autistic students?

Autism can manifest differently in women and girls. Learn how small changes, such as warning students before making changes to classroom layouts, can make all the difference

Sarah Guest

University of Chester

Young female Asian student doing an online course

Identifying and addressing accessibility issues in courses that use LaTeX

Learn how to use digital tools to solve accessibility issues with online learning materials at the source. Iliria Stenning and Paul Vrbik discuss a pilot programme to improve accessibility using tools such as Blackboard Ally

Iliria Stenning, Paul Vrbik

The University of Queensland

Stop levelling the playing field in HE – it’s time to redesign the stadium

Design disability-friendly healthcare education from the outset rather than rely on reactive accommodations, says Daphne Pereira, who offers guidance

Daphne Pereira

Dalhousie University

A young Asian man in a wheelchair uses a phone and a laptop

Help South Asian disabled students navigate higher education

Disabled international students need cultural awareness alongside support. Here’s how to provide it

Nirma Jayawardena, Isuru Koswatte, Christian Harrison

University of the West of Scotland, University of Bradford, University of Bolton

A student and teacher sitting at a desk discussing an assignment

Simple ways to support students with ADHD

What you should know about how students with ADHD learn and how to take a strengths-based approach

Karen Costa

Lesley University

How useful are smart glasses in improving accessibility in higher education?

Smart glasses have the potential to support learning for disabled students, but this technology also comes with significant privacy concerns. Helen Nicholson-Benn looks at how to balance functional benefits with data security and safeguarding

Helen Nicholson-Benn

Jisc

A student at his desk speaking to a professor

How to challenge problematic competence standards

We can make assessment fairer by learning how to spot issues with competence standards and supporting students to challenge them. Here’s how

Jess Jasper, Harriet Crooks

The University of East Anglia

Illustration of group of diverse students under an umbrella

Five practical tips to make online and in-person courses more accessible

Addressing accessibility in teaching materials can be confusing and complicated, especially for university educators or administrators who are new to the concept. Here are five steps to get started

Bill Curtis-Davidson

Georgia Tech’s Center for 21st Century Universities

Young black woman looking at screen with help from older black woman, job shadow concept

Five steps to prepare neurodivergent students for the world of work

Students with neuro-cognitive conditions often face significant challenges when making the transition into the workplace. So, how can higher education institutions ensure these students are ready to launch their professional lives?

Sophie Hennekam, Barbara Haddou

Audencia

Red-headed female student looking unhappy in an exam

How to redesign law exams for students with ADHD

Long closed-book examinations are at odds with how the brains of students with ADHD work, writes Malak Benslama-Dabdoub. Here, she explains how to create assessment that tests the target skills

Malak Benslama-Dabdoub

Royal Holloway, University of London

Katherine Aquino speaks on the Campus Talks podcast

Campus Talks: Why small changes make a big difference to accessibility in higher education

Find out why individual actions hold the key to moving higher education institutions from compliance to success for disabled students

Katherine C. Aquino, Miranda Prynne

Rutgers University

Graphic image of a bouquet of flowers in a graduation cap on top of barbed wire

Make learning accessible to all in higher education

True accessibility comes when it is placed at the core of teaching and learning design. Read advice for creating universally accessible learning

Campus contributors, Laura Duckett

Campus

Good looking male student in a university class

Using universal design for learning to alleviate disclosure reluctance

Designing courses accessibly from the ground up reduces the pressure on neurodivergent students to disclose in order to succeed, writes Luis Paterson

Luis Paterson

University of Canterbury | Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha

A deaf student on a video call with other participants using sign language

Beyond captions: how to build truly inclusive environments for deaf students

Practical, evidence-based strategies to reduce visual overload, improve conceptual clarity and enable deaf and hard-of-hearing students to participate fully

Mogeeb A. A. Mosleh

Taiz University

A student looking at his phone in a university library

A practical toolkit for supporting neurodivergent learners

Strategies for making learning environments accessible by design, to the benefit of all students

Multiple authors

University of Oxford, Swansea University

How working with deaf students changed my teaching

Adjusting your teaching when you have a deaf student in your class can help everyone learn better – and help you find new ways to communicate effectively. Find out how

Anny Maria Rodriguez

Universidad del Caribe (UNICARIBE)

A teacher at the front of class interacting with a room full of students

From policy to practice: how to embed accessibility standards at scale

How to build staff confidence, bridge communication gaps and align systems so that accessibility becomes business as usual

Rachel Griffiths , Vrinda Nayak

The University of Exeter

A deaf student doing sign language on a Zoom call

Teaching deaf, deafblind and hard-of-hearing students: practical steps that benefit everyone

When educators design communication to work across multiple modes from the outset, classrooms become more accessible – and more effective – for everyone, says Annelies Kusters

Annelies Kusters

Heriot-Watt University

What the Baftas incident teaches us about psychological safety in universities

How universities can take a proactive, compassionate approach to psychological safety that supports all students

Nicola Martin

London South Bank University

Why digital accessibility is now a leadership issue for universities

The question for university decision-makers is whether to settle for the minimum accessibility required by international regulation or to embed it as a marker of institutional excellence across teaching, research and civic mission

Ayala Gordon, Sarah Lewthwaite

Independent academic, University of Southampton

A group of university students working together at a table

Make team-based learning work for neurodivergent students

Students with autism, ADHD and dyslexia often struggle in team-based learning contexts. Read advice for tailoring this activity to specific learning needs and reducing overstimulation

Multiple authors

University of Bath, University of Bradford

University students sitting at their desks

Why clear GenAI guidance matters to neurodivergent students. And how to get it right

Neurodivergent students often experience heightened anxiety when GenAI expectations vary across courses. Here’s how to design more consistent guidance

Jayne Quoiani

The University of Edinburgh

University students celebrating their graduation

Rethinking neurodiversity in higher education

Strategies to embed neurodiversity support into teaching and assessment to unlock talent and drive innovation across higher education

Patrice Seuwou

University of Northampton

AI as an access tool for neurodiverse and international staff

Used transparently and ethically, GenAI can level the playing field and lower the cognitive load of repetitive tasks for admin staff, student support and teachers

Vanessa Mar-Molinero

University of Southampton

Students working together in a classroom

Three easy tweaks to make your teaching autism-friendly

Autistic students have the highest university dropout rate of any disability group. What can teaching staff do about it?

Cora Beth Fraser

The Open University

Young female medical researcher with elderly female patient

How to conduct research involving people who may not have capacity to consent for themselves

Studies involving people who may not be able to provide their own consent to take part in research can be daunting. These practical tips offer a guide to ethical and inclusive research with this population

Victoria Shepherd, Anna Anderson, Amy M. Russell

Cardiff University, University of Leeds

Female scientific researcher in wheelchair in lab

‘Think of inclusivity as the rule rather than the exception’

Cultivating an inclusivity mindset can help university researchers demystify and embrace reasonable adjustments as part of everyday practice

Jamie Wilde

University of Southampton

A neurodivergent student participatin gin a class discussion

Stop placing the onus on neurodivergent students to ‘fit in’

How universal design for learning can address common challenges in making classrooms more inclusive for neurodivergent students

Ioanna Kapantai

The University of Exeter

Woman in wheelchair and young black man looking at tablet

How to meaningfully include disabled people in patient and public involvement activities

Meaningful inclusion of disabled people in research activities helps ensure the resulting findings are useful for informing healthcare delivery in the real world. These practical tips explain how to do it

Anna Anderson, Amy M. Russell

University of Leeds

Advice on purposefully creating a sense of belonging among black students in majority white universities

How can we support Black neurodivergent students?

Black neurodivergent students face distinct barriers at the intersection of racism and ableism, so here are ways universities can go beyond generic policies to offer truly inclusive, intersectional support

Patrice Seuwou

University of Northampton

Students wearing a mask in class to protect against viral infection

Practical ways to support university students with long Covid

Educators can make it easier for students dealing with the symptoms of long Covid to continue their studies. In this video, Anne McConway explains the condition and offers strategies for safer, more welcoming classrooms for all learners

Anne McConway

Coventry University

How can higher education better support international students with disabilities?

Institutions need to work harder to understand international students with disabilities’ needs and challenges, and put in place more obvious and intentional communication with them

Carol Evans, Maurie van den Heever, Ralph E. McKinney

University of Salford, GoodX Software, Marshall University

Creating a visual story to demystify the university experience

Visual stories can help make universities’ complex array of services and experiences more accessible and less mysterious to staff, students and community members

Brooke Szücs, Ben Roden-Cohen

The University of Queensland

Level the playing field for student apprentices with ILPs

Read advice on how to support student apprentices with independent learning plans, including guiding them through the off-the-job hours logging process

Joskaudė Pakalkaitė

The University of Exeter

An academic disclosing their disability to their manager

Stop treating disability support as an afterthought

Find out what prevents university staff from disclosing invisible disabilities – and steps their institutions can take to change that

Christina Dzineku, James Murray

Independent academic, University of Buckingham

Ways to make your learning materials accessible and inclusive

Advice on laying the groundwork for inclusive teaching and using tools that help students with specific needs thrive

Eunice Costilla Cruz , Nelly Ramírez Vázquez

Tecnológico de Monterrey

A laptop screen with many different storage drawers opening

Is collaboration the key to digital accessibility?

Digital accessibility is ethically important, and a legal requirement, but it’s also a lot of work. Here’s how universities can collaborate and pool their expertise to make higher education accessible for all

Sal Jarvis, George Rhodes

University of Westminster

A group of students sitting in a circle while a teacher addresses them

How blepharospasm made me a better teacher

Read about a strategy that helped an educator living with an eye condition build emotional resilience and create a more inclusive classroom environment

Bhawana Shrestha

Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University

Multiracial group of three people looking at a computer

Inclusive co-teaching can draw on educators’ lived experience

Joint teaching between academic faculty and experts by experience offers not only professional development for future teachers, but benefits student understanding as well. Here’s how to put it into practice

Pablo Rodríguez Herrero

Universidad Autónoma de Madrid

Female artist in her studio smiling to camera

Neurodiversity-affirming education is key to supporting students into the creative industries

More needs to be done to support neurodivergent people seeking careers in the creative industries. Here are some strategies

Hannah Breslin

University of the Arts London

How we support accessible learning for students with disabilities

See how effective support, from the provision of counselling services, Autism Spectrum Disorder induction days and appropriate work experience opportunities, ensures students with a disability or long-term condition succeed during their studies and beyond

Conor Curran, Shauna McKeown, Will Plunkett

Queen’s University Belfast

Students standing and chatting outside of a campus building

How unlocking data maximises student support and success

See how using sophisticated dashboards and targeted interventions can enable institutions to deliver personalised, preventative, proactive and predictive student support

Aleata Alstad-Calkins

University of Roehampton

Address the lack of research in Para sport by embedding students in doctoral programmes

The Embedded Scientist Approach places doctoral students in Para sport-focused research programmes. Vicky Goosey-Tolfrey explores the lessons she learned from implementing it

Vicky Goosey-Tolfrey

Loughborough University

A filming set up of a female student speaking to camera

Ease autistic students’ transition to university with low-stimulus videos

University communications are often high impact and visually appealing. But this can be the opposite of what some of our students need

Norman Darwen, Mark Hughes

The University of Manchester

Neurodivergent leadership potential concept illustration

‘It just isn’t safe to disclose’

Neurodiverse academics face real and significant barriers to achieving positions of educational leadership. Here are considerations for universities to make promotion more equitable

Adrian J. Wallbank, Andrew Page-Towers

Oxford Brookes University

Careers services must step up to support students with disabilities

From shaping a culture of support to working with industry, careers services have an important role in improving employability for students with disabilities

Peter Hylslop, Barbara Mackie

The University of Newcastle, Australia

Creating inclusive spaces for inclusive events

Inclusivity efforts must go beyond physical accessibility to include how events are advertised and who is consulted and invited to speak, write Meredith Wilkinson and Leanne de Main. Here they offer eight practical ways to make shared spaces welcoming for all

Meredith Wilkinson, Leanne de Main

De Montfort University

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