Bullying, Long Delays And A Lack Of Communication: Students With Disabilities Are Speaking Up

Students with disabilities are demanding better support from universities. It comes days after a report found that disabled students have experienced bullying, harassment and discrimination at a leading Russell Group university.

Newly-uncovered documents reveal the University of Sheffield was failing to use support plans designed to help some disabled students with their classes, while some staff with disabilities reported feeling anxious and even suicidal due to the lack of help.

Another analysis published in the same week showed that less than a third of students receive the disabled students’ allowance (DSA) meant to help them access and thrive in higher education.

Just 29% of students in England and Wales with a known disability received the allowance in 2019/20 while those who have been through the application process complained of bureaucracy, long delays, inconsistent quality of support and a lack of communication.

This is according to the recently published Holmes report.

As someone that has dyslexia and just recently graduated from university i've seen first hand the lack of support given to my community.

The pandemic, albeit an awful two years that changed the lives of many, brought the inequalities experienced by disabled people, particularly students, to the forefront of the news and now Students from up and down the country are demanding better and speaking up on their experiences.

One blind student, Daniel Swain, even withdrew from his university course after promised learning support failed to materialise his future had "evaporated". He left the University of Sheffield a month after starting because of failings which he said meant his learning was inaccessible.

The then 19-year-old said he had "really struggled" since ending his philosophy degree course in October 2020. The university has since apologised and reimbursed his tuition fees but it doesn't take away what happened.

Figures show 94,120 new students with a disability enrolled at university in England in 2017/18 – that’s up by more than 6,000 on the previous academic year and by some 26,000 since 2013/14.

But if these numbers are to continue increasing the necessary support needs to be in place.

AWALLPRINTSS spoke with two campaigners who are trying to help change the way that universities support students with disabilities-from dyslexia to leg impairments.

Sean Cullen, 26, based in London, is a Student Voice Commissioner at the Disabled Students commission and Disability Officer at Brunel University. He is a leading the fight for disabled students across the UK.

His 2013 motorcycle injuries resulted in him becoming a lower limb amputee. However, his university disability service and his close-knitted circle of family and friends empowered him through his mental and physical challenges.

"I’d like to think I haven’t experienced any prejudice because of my disability, but it’s hard to say. Things have been harder due to my disability but normally the staff are usually quite understanding [in my experience.]"

When asked what he thinks universities should do to make them feel more supported. He said: “the best way for universities to improve is to actively seek out and listen to student feedback on the issues they are facing. Often Universities get caught up in the details of how they are going to fix an issue and lose sight of those students experiencing the issues.

“There is a big stigma about talking to disabled people and being afraid of backlash. However, if you treat them like an equal and inquire about the areas they struggle with, more often than listening to people is the first step towards helping them.”

Cullen’s most notable works have included campaigning for the flattening of the campus bridge, building accessible studio flats, and overhauling the way that the blue badge parking is managed at the university.

Michael Omoaka, 21, is a BSc Natural Science student, and former course representative from the University of Leicester. He is an advocate for disabled-student rights.

As a dyslexic student, he believes that the university has not done enough to support him and that they are often dismissive.

He explained: “the university doesn’t really care about what we need as [disabled] students. They focus on the people that understand things and everyone else is an afterthought.”

During his time at university, Mr Omoaka has been assigned an AccessAbility supervisor who helps him with most of his assignments, however, the supervisor does not specialise in his course and therefore, she can only help him to a certain extent.

“Although my AccessAbility teacher helps me in certain ways, mostly in my written work, she cannot help with my course work as she is not trained in teaching Natural science.”

Omoaka expressed his frustration with the situation as he said: “it’s not fair that they have specific support for certain subjects but not for all of them, especially at University. If there was a Natural Science tutor that could help me, I would be so happy and I would feel stress relieved as someone would be able to understand what I am trying to do.”

His claim contradicts the departmental support statement issued by the University on its website. It says: “each academic department has an AccessAbility Tutor. The AccessAbility Tutor is a named person within your academic department who you can talk to about any disability-related issues.”

Michael said: “ I think universities forget that some people are dyslexic. I think they often forget about me by marking my work harshly and ignoring my learning struggles.”

“The lecturers should be trained in how to teach disabled students and give them extra materials and support to make things easier and simpler in comparison to just reading what’s in the lectures and expecting us to understand it straight away. They must do better.”

The Disabled Students’ Commission (DSC) is challenging the higher education sector to develop more effective models of support for disabled students by engaging with students, staff, and representative bodies, more specifically during the pandemic. The findings of this work will be reported later in the summer.

Awallprintss has contacted the university for a statement.