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Hearing the voices of disabled students in higher education
- Authors:
- VICKERMAN Philip, BLUNDELL Milly
- Journal article citation:
- Disability and Society, 25(1), January 2010, pp.21-32.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
This paper reports on a study of the lived in experiences and perspectives of disabled students during attendance at a higher education (HE) establishment in northern United Kingdom. Using questionnaires, the views of 504 students, taking physical education, sport, dance and outdoor education classes, of their transition from induction, course delivery, barriers to learning, through to employability were recorded and followed by face-to-face interviews with four students who had indicated that they had physical or learning (including dyslexia) disabilities. The authors report work is needed to level HE experiences for disabled students and highlight five issues to be addressed in order to enable their access and entitlement rights as detailed in the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) 1995, Special Educational Needs and Disability Act (SENDA) 2001, and the Disability Equality Duty (DED) 2006. Firstly, the authors recommend the provision of pre-course inclusion support, which will at least encourage more students to disclose their disabilities and at best will make mainstream systems of induction more user friendly to all. Commitment by HE institutions to providing barrier-free curricula and support services is key, as is consultation with disabled students on all topics associated with their HE experiences. Fifthly, the authors call for the embedding of personal development planning for all students, but especially those with disabilities.