New book challenges universities to rethink disability inclusion

Disability and Higher Education: Theory~Practice Coherence, published by Routledge and co-authored by Associate Professors Tim Corcoran (Deakin University) and Ben Whitburn (University of Southampton), takes a critical look at the way ‘inherent requirements’ — the core biopsychosocial standards students must meet to complete a course — are used across higher education, arguing they do more to entrench marginalisation and discrimination than promote educational equity.

The book moves away from medicalised, deficit-based understandings of disability, instead drawing on emerging theoretical approaches to reframe how universities understand and respond to difference. Its authors say the aim is to give administrators, educators and policymakers new conceptual tools to build more genuinely inclusive institutions, rather than treating inclusion as a compliance exercise layered on top of existing structures.

Structured across nine chapters, the book moves from theoretical foundations — including chapters on “second nature psychologies,” critical disability studies and “attuned ethics” — through to practical guidance for academic and teaching staff on curriculum design, pedagogy, assessment and placements, before considering how universities, industry and community can work together to support inclusive outcomes.

At the launch, Corcoran and Whitburn discussed the ideas behind the book and the aspirations they hold for its impact on policy and practice. They were joined by three respondents drawn from the fields of educational equity and inclusion:

• Professor Roger Slee, Emeritus Professor of Disability and Inclusion at the University of Leeds and Adjunct Professor at Deakin University, who has advised governments and international bodies including UNESCO and the European Agency for Special Needs and Inclusive Education, and is founding editor of the International Journal of Inclusive Education and the Journal of Disability Studies in Education.
• Dr Matt Brett, Director of Academic Governance and Standards at Deakin University, whose research spans higher education financing policy, disability, inherent requirements, mental health and student equity.
• Dr Jesse Ruse, a clinical psychologist and former senior mental health specialist in Melbourne’s public health system, who recently completed a PhD at the University of Sydney applying critical and cultural psychological approaches to wellbeing.

Following the discussion, the authors and respondents took questions from an engaged audience of researchers, educators and administrators.

Watch the launch event.