Students with disability find it harder to succeed at university

The number of students living with a disability accessing tertiary and higher education has quadrupled over the past decade, with students living with invisible disabilities accounting for between 70 and 80 per cent of all students with a disability or chronic illness. Some students choose not to disclose their disabilities due to fear of stigma or being treated differently and are often overlooked in the tertiary education support system,

ADCET data has outlined that students with a disability are reported to have a lower success rate in tertiary education when compared to all students. Furthermore, students living with a disability reported lower levels of satisfaction with the undergraduate experience of tertiary education and had lower levels of retention when compared to all students.

Experts are calling for changes to the institutional, attitudinal and academic environment to best support the academic endeavours of students living with a disability, especially those with invisible disabilities

‘Course structure and assessment processes can prove very challenging for students with hidden disabilities,’ Dr Genée Marks said.

‘There is a widespread assumption that students with disabilities will find the tertiary education experience more satisfying if they study online. Students have observed though that even in universities with well-developed policies and practices focussing on inclusivity, the needs of students with various neurodiversities are often overlooked or poorly understood. Course structure and assessment processes can prove very challenging and students have complained that many lecturers still retain a deficit approach towards these students,’ she said.

‘Expectations, for example, that all students should complete group work on occasions across their courses, have the potential to impact badly on the outcomes of many students with neurodiversities.’

‘Students with neurodiversities and other hidden disabilities have noted that additional demands for them studying in the tertiary sector include the need to constantly fight for representation, assumptions by lecturers about what neurodiversity means and the expectation of consistency across the varieties of diversity, and the demand for students to advocate for themselves and fight the system for support,’ Dr Marks said.

‘Students also observe that the university system might be more accessible and provide more positive outcomes if there were a greater representation of various disabilities, including neurodiversities, among the academic staff working within the sector.’