Highlighting barriers to Higher education

When young people begin to research their next steps after school, there are plenty of organisations ready to offer advice, each of them advising disabled students that universities should provide suitable accessible accommodation and support. All universities have a legal duty to think about how to accommodate disabled students and to remove barriers in education, but what happens when this doesn’t go far enough?

A lack of adequate funding, accessible accommodation and consistent reasonable adjustments are all contributing to barriers, but without further attention, support and funding, these can’t be overcome.

“These things are only going to prevent young disabled people from entering higher education in general, and those that are already on courses won’t be able to continue their studies,” advises Rundip Thind, education officer at Disability Rights UK. The organisation runs the Disabled Students Helpline which offers information to students, apprentices and trainees via phone and email, advising on applications, adjustments, your rights, funding and more.

Accommodation

At the end of 2022, student housing charity Unipol (www.unipol.org.uk) warned of a student housing crisis powered by a shift from universities running their own accommodation and instead, partnering with private providers. These fears were confirmed when the StuRents accommodation portal, which represents 70 per cent of student beds in the UK, released data that suggested there was a shortfall of around 207,000 student beds nationally. Alongside the general shortage of accommodation, cost is also of concern.

“We know that specialist accommodation will cost more than standard accommodation,” states Rundip. “If your accommodation is costing you more solely because of a disability, our advice has been to approach the university around making a reasonable adjustment to the cost of that accommodation.

“In those instances, we would recommend bringing the disability advisors within the university into the dialogue, because it is a disabilityrelated issue.”

In some cases, Disabled Students Allowance – a dedicated grant for disabled people in higher education which is provided by the government – can help cover this additional cost, but when this financial support also has to cover specialist equipment, non-medical helpers, travel and more, it might not be enough to fill the gap. One thing is clear: more funding is necessary to aid in all of these areas and ensure young disabled people can attend the institution of their choice in a way that suits their needs.

Funding

“A lot of people reach out to us because they want to know about additional funding sources to bridge the gap between their student loans and the cost of living,” reveals Rundip. “People are struggling every day with the cost of things like rent, bills, even food, and in most cases the loan increases year on year currently don’t match inflation.”

The situation is concerning across the UK, but particularly in England where the student finance package will increase by just 2.8 per cent for the 2023-24 academic year, while inflation remains above 10 per cent.

“For students hoping to start higher education in September, there is huge concern for how they will actually make ends meet,” explains Rundip. “This is having a major impact on young people’s mental health, and on parents. A lot of the time parents are having to step in to support young people to remain in higher education.

“In the cost of living crisis parents can just about support themselves, and now they have to also support a young person which can be a big stretch for some people.”

Without increased funding, especially for disabled students, people will be forced to take a different path, or to withdraw from courses they are already on.

Calling For A Higher Standard

Chloe Tear, who has cerebral palsy and a visual impairment, is a university graduate and was a disability officer in her final year. Here, Chloe shares advice based on her experiences of support.

For me, getting the right support in place was difficult at first, but luckily all of the lecturers in my department were amazing. Adjustments are so individual, for me it was needing printouts, having things sent electronically in advance or having them blown up to A3. For a lot of students I know, they often felt like an afterthought and like the onus was on students to be proactive. Sometimes we just want to sit at the back of a lecture and listen just like everyone else, rather than having to advocate for ours needs to be met every single day.

Reasonable Adjustments

For young people who are still able to attend higher education despite concerns around funding and accommodation, universities should provide support to ensure they are able to learn in the best way for their needs.

“The reasonable adjustments duty that universities have doesn’t just apply to teaching, learning and assessments, but also to the services and facilities that are available through the university,” reveals Rundip.

Every university around the UK should have a specialist advisor or team who are dedicated to offering advice and implementing support. It’s never too early to start communicating with them to ensure what you need is in place when your first day arrives.

“It’s important to start having conversations in advance of starting their programme,” advises Rundip. “Once they get their results and know where they definitely want to study, get those conversations going.

“A lot of universities wait for you to approach them about support, so I think it’s important to start that conversation with them early.”

These advisors can help with information around physical accessibility, adapting your learning resources, if the university provides its own grants for equipment or support, and more. They can also aid with any disputes if your support isn’t adequate when you start.

When someone asks me about support, I always say start as early as possible, it’s very easy to think ‘I’ll just turn up and it will be available’, but that doesn’t always happen. It isn’t like school where they have the same standards across the board, some universities are amazing at it while others aren’t, and I think a standard like that would really help disabled students both academically and socially. Despite having to fight for support sometimes, I do not regret going to university. I really loved the experience.