University Disabled Students Experiences of Learning, Teaching and Assessment

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University Disabled Students Experiences of
Learning, Teaching and Assessment
Mick Healey Hazel Roberts and Mary
Fuller University of Gloucestershire,
UK mhealey_at_glos.ac.uk, hroberts_at_glos.ac.uk
mfuller_at_glos.ac.uk We believe that the claim
that everyone is impaired, not just disabled
people, is a far-reaching and important insight
into human experience, with major implications
for medical and social intervention in the
twenty-first century (Shakespeare and Watson
2002 25)
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Introduction

• Despite the growth of interest in the topic, the
  voice of the disabled students, with a few
  exceptions (e.g. Riddell et al. 2002), has hardly
  been heard, beyond the anecdotal
• Will draw on longitudinal interviews with 31
  disabled students across the four universities
  about their experiences of learning and
  assessment
• Supplement it with findings from two surveys at
  one of the universities a) a survey of 178
  disabled students b) a survey of 548 disabled
  and non-disabled students

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Listening to students
Statistically in a class of 200 students in UK
higher education there will be 11 students who
have declared a disability Would you know who
they are? It is likely that at least another 11
students in the room have an impairment, but have
not declared it
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The Nature of Disability
a physical or mental impairment which has a
substantial and long-term adverse effect on his
or her ability to carry out normal day-to-day
activities Disability and Discrimination Act
(1995) 5.4 of all undergraduates (121,085) in
the UK self-assessed themselves as having a
disability in 2003/04 The actual proportion may
be closer to 10
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The Nature of Disability
Self-assessed disabilities by UK higher
education students all years, 2003/04 Dyslexia
41.3 Unseen disabilities (e.g. epilepsy,
diabetes, asthma) 20.1 Multiple
disabilities 9.9 Deaf/Hearing impairment 5.1 Menta
l health difficulties 4.4Wheel-chair
user/Mobility difficulties 4.1 Blind/partially
sighted 2.8 Personal care support 0.2 Other
disabilities 12.3 Source NDT (2005)
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Barriers to Learning Overcome
I didnt actually know what my disability was
when I came here. It was actually because of the
University that I found out I was dyslexic and
since then I cant praise them enough for the
help I have actually received. (John. Field
Sport. Dyslexia)
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Barriers to Learning Identified
The hearing sic is just terrible and the
lecturers know this, the ones that we had, but if
it was a visiting lecturer they wouldnt know.
They tend to show slides because the projector is
in the middle of the room so theyre standing
behind it and theyre not speaking to you,
theyre speaking to the screen. (Bridget.
Field Art. Deaf/hearing impaired)
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Access to Information
At the beginning of some of my modules, I think
one of the lecturers did say if there are any
problems, please tell me about them. I still
didnt take that opportunity! I think that would
be helpful. If they put us at ease as well, and
made them approachable about our
disability. (Rosie. Field Environment.
Unseen disability)
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Lack of flexibility in DSA support
Dalia did not go on a years placement because
she believed that she would loose entitlement to
her incapacity benefit in the final year. No.
Because, if I do, I loose all my disability
benefits, and I wont be able to get them back
again Youve got to be under 21 when you start
claiming or, not in work, or, you have to have
like, a sick period and then you can start
claiming again but youre only allowed to work
up to 12 hours a week, or, full time for 6
months, in a year.
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Lack of flexibility in DSA support
Dalia also experienced delays with accessing the
Disabled Students Allowance. When I need
software for the course, I cant just go out and
buy it, I have to say to disability advisor, I
need the software for this module, then she
sends a letter to the LEA, then the LEA
research wheres cheapest to buy it, then they
send me a letter that I have to sign and send
back to them to say that the money can come out
of the funds, and then eventually I get my
software. And in the meantime the course has
finished!
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Reasonable adjustments - need
Legislation in the UK puts a duty on universities
and colleges to make reasonable adjustments in
advance for the needs of disabled students and to
produce disability equality statements. All
staff, academic and support, have a
responsibility for providing a learning
environment in which disabled students are not
disadvantaged.
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Reasonable adjustments - experiences
Wide variation in the experience of the students
in the reasonable adjustments made to learning,
teaching and assessment (LTA) suggests there are
differences in how the legislation is
interpreted. Such findings help to explain why
this is an area which features strongly in the
cases brought against higher education
institutions under the legislation in Australia
and emerging case law in the UK (Adams and Brown
2002 Adams 2007a).
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Reasonable adjustments - argument
It is invidious to treat disabled students as a
separate category rather they fall along a
continuum of learner differences and share with
other higher education students similar
challenges and difficulties sometimes the
barriers are more severe for them, but sometimes
they are not
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Reasonable adjustments - approaches
Assimilate - special arrangements made for
particular disabled students to help them cope
e.g. provision of hearing loops handouts in
Braille extra time in exams stickers for
students with dyslexia Alternative arrangements -
provided for particular students e.g. a virtual
fieldcourse for a student with a mobility
impairment a viva is provided to test the same
learning outcomes as a written assessment Inclusiv
e - all students are provided with adjustments
e.g. handouts before lectures alternative
assessments designed to test the same learning
outcomes
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Reasonable adjustments - assimilate
Daisy (Heritage Tourism, visual dyslexia)
went on a fieldtrip without a note taker The
lecturer said to certain people to take notes for
that day for me but I never actually got round to
pushing them to give them to me so I kind of
ended up with my own hand written notes and a few
gaps Jean (education, dyslexia) - extra time in
exams I have this label you are treated a bit
different, which is good because you think I do
need extra time in exams but I am aware of
people saying to me Oh I didnt see you in the
exam hall
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Reasonable adjustments - alternative
Andrew (education, cerebral palsy) was provided
with an alternative fieldwork exercise Obviously
there was a lot of stuff I couldnt do because of
my legs and whatever. The river study was one
particular thing. They accommodated me really
well. They just said you dont need to do that
but Sheila, one of the assistants, she took me in
the van and we went to a visitor centre and I
evaluated the usefulness of the visitor centre.
I was doing something, although it was different
to the rest of them, I wasnt just sitting in a
cabin with my feet up.
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Reasonable adjustments - inclusive
Brandon (engineering, dyslexia), along with all
the other students on his course, gets lots of
handouts in advance which means he does not need
his note taker I can listen to the lecture and
remember. We get lots of handouts and notes,
which is good for me because rather than look at
my notes I can look at theirs. In maths they
gave us a CD at the beginning of the year and
that has all the notes for the whole year, exam
questions and answers.
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Variation in LTA experiences
Jean (education dyslexia) had different
experiences with different lecturers   If she
put an overhead up in a lecture theatre or a
workshop she would do it paragraph by
paragraph and she would read it out as well
so I would get it audibly and visually     She
moves into the group as overheads are swishing on
and off, she is talking about something else
which is so important that I am supposed to be
taking it down and I am a bit like what do you
want me to do?
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Variation in LTA experiences
Two students with the same disability may have
widely different experiences   Im good at oral
presentations but sometimes misspell on OHPs
(Dyslexia)   I hate oral presentations because
it is very difficult for me to converse my ideas
out aloud and this is not to do with confidence
but speech problems (Dyslexia)
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LTA experiences
This suggests that devising general policies may
not meet the specific needs of individuals
However, making numerous individually-tailored
adjustments is not sustainable though may be
essential in a minority of cases What is
required is an inclusive approach which removes
the distinction between teaching and assessing
disabled and non-disabled students
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LTA experiences of disabled and non-disabled
students
   
Agree/Strongly agree Dis Non-Dis I
have had physical difficulties with writing
29 5 I have had difficulty with literacy
skills 54 17 I have had
difficulty in taking notes 55
24 I have had difficulties with the amount
of time I require to complete
assignments 55 39 Its
easy to know the standard of work expected
51 43 I have had difficulties with
participation in group work 19
29 I have had difficulties with oral
presentations 28 33
 
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LTA experiences
Using a catch-all category disabled students
is problematic The findings show that for most
part disabled students have similar experiences
to non-disabled students of learning and
assessment. However, disability-related barriers
have had a significant impact on their
experiences of learning and assessment in a
minority of situations.
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LTA experiences
The main beneficiaries of disability legislation
may be the non-disabled students because many of
the adjustments, such as well-prepared handouts,
instructions given in writing as well as
verbally, notes put on-line, and variety and
flexibility in forms of assessment, are simply
good teaching and learning practices which
benefit all students
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LTA experiences
One unintended consequence of this (disability)
legislation is that as departments and
institutions introduce more flexible learning and
alternative ways of assessment for disabled
students, demand is likely to rise for giving
greater flexibility for all students.
Disability legislation may prove to be a Trojan
horse and in a decade, the learning experiences
of all students may be the subject of greater
negotiation (Healey 2003 26).
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LTA experiences
Far fewer adjustments for disabled students
would be required if learning, teaching and
assessment was designed to be inclusive from the
beginning. The universal design for learning
movement is critical here. For me, the beauty
of universal design approaches, is that an
individuals impairment is not seen as a barrier
but rather, the focus of how best that individual
learns (Adams 2007 10)
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Designing inclusive teaching and learning

• Please work in pairs One should read
• Ten ways to design modules for accessibility
• The other should read
• Universal design of instruction
• Tell each other at least ONE interesting idea

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Principles of Universal Design for Instruction

• Inclusiveness
• Physical access
• Delivery methods
• Information access
• Interaction
• Feedback
• Demonstration of knowledge

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University disabled students experiences of
learning, teaching and assessment
THE END Thank You