Increasing numbers of disabled students are dropping out. What are universities doing wrong?
Student Rosie Watson felt humiliated and let down when her tutors failed to take into account her deafness.
Although when she began her anthropology degree course at Durham University Watson was assessed and given the help of a note-taker and a laptop, she says tutors and lecturers humiliated her and failed to take her needs into account. When she raised the issue, she was offered counselling to help her adjust to university life.
" tapped on the loop and shouted down it "Rosie can you hear me, Rosie" and I was made to feel humiliated, especially when other students laughed at this," Watson says. "I asked the tutor if she realised just how upsetting that had been for me; her reaction was to say that she always shouted 'because her grandmother is old'.
"She went on to say 'Read my lips'. offensive to be made to feel that I am an old person and in some way slow in my learning, rather then just somebody who is hearing impaired."
And it seems Watson is not alone. Universities are still failing to adequately accommodate disabled students, leading to higher dropout rates and claims of discrimination. There are fears that the economic climate could make things even worse.
A combination of "tick-box" approaches to achieving disability equality, failures by some universities to implement legally required measures, and failures by the Student Loads Company are all hindering disabled students, Education Guardian has learned.
Durham University agreed to pay £25,000 to Watson, after a case she brought claiming discrimination on grounds of disability. "In a biological social origins class, we were given a video to watch for our workshop and I had no note-taker," says Watson. "The video was one which is apparently quite famous about chimpanzees ½ I was not given any lesson or lecture plans in advance. Neither was I given a synopsis of the video in advance, or even at the class. The video did not have any subtitles. I don't know if they expected me to be able to lip read the chimpanzees."
Although Durham University agreed to settle the case out of court, it fully denies the claim. "The university has agreed a settlement with Mrs Watson without admission of liability and it would not be appropriate to make any further comment," says Michael Gilmore, the university's academic registrar.
Lawyers have said there are no precedents from similar cases under the Disability Discrimination Act reaching the courts, prompting concern that the lack of legal aid and the high risk of bringing a new type of claim could be denying access to justice for other disabled students.
"Rosie is a mature student with a supportive family - it's very difficult to imagine an 18-year-old student taking on a case like this, particularly given the risk of having to pay all the costs," says Wake Smith & Tofields, who represented Watson.
"People with disabilities don't know where to turn. Durham University's approach was to send Rosie for counselling to help her adjust to life at university, which made her feel these difficulties were a result of her own problems managing her disability. In fact, the law places a duty on the university to make adjustments for her, not the other way round."
Watson's case comes at the same time as an investigation by the Oxford University's Cherwell student newspaper found that the dropout rate for disabled students at the university had more than doubled, with 16% of disabled students withdrawing from their degrees in the academic year 2008-09, compared with 7% the previous year.
"We are concerned about these drop-out rates," says Peter Quinn, senior disability officer at Oxford. "Our own survey also shows that across the board, disabled students are less satisfied, and we have been running focus groups to try to find out why. Across the country we have the lowest dropout rates of any university, so obviously we are concerned if disabled students feature disproportionately."
Like many universities, Oxford has dozens of students with autistic spectrum disorders and chronic fatigue disabilities, as well as students with mobility issues. The university has had a disability team in place since the 1990s, and has taken a number of steps to improve support for students with disabilities.
But Quinn says that some students would not have been able to continue without the intervention of the university, which has been able to give upfront funding.
Earlier this year, the National Audit Office published a damning report on the Student Loan Company's handling of loans and grants, singling out management of the Disabled Students' Allowance for criticism. By the end of 2009, only 4,000 of 17,000 applications had resulted in a payment, taking an average of 20 weeks to be processed, the NAO said.
"There has been a catastrophic failure to provide effective targeted support to disabled students, and the people who need it most are really suffering," says Quinn.
"Some of our students on the autistic spectrum need support in place from day one, and at Oxford we've been able to provide that support, even if we do not get the money back from student finance. But other institutions, which aren't so well funded, will be thinking they can't afford to spend thousands of pounds upfront to support students. Anecdotally I've heard this has crippled some institutions, and it's very serious for disabled students."
The concerns come amid increasing pressure on universities to continue improving access.
Last year, research carried out by the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign found that 40% of university inter-campus transport was inaccessible to disabled students, while 30% of university social and leisure facilities were also not accessible to students with mobility impairment.
"I looked at two universities in London that I didn't like because they were not easily accessible," says Donna Malcolm, who is studying law at London South Bank University and is tetraplegic. "For example, at Westminster University the pavements are quite high, and it was difficult to get through the doors. At South Bank the doors are wider and I have not had any issues gaining access to all the areas I've wanted to go to."
"It's very unfair if disabled students end up dropping out," Malcolm says. "Things should be put in place so that everybody gets a chance."
But others caution against placing too much emphasis on mobility issues alone, or falling into so-called "ramp mentality".
"It's not simply a question of facilitating wheelchair access," says Quinn. "Installing ramps does not mean a university's job is done."
"For a lot of institutions, risk assessment just means demonstrating compliance with something; it's simply a tick-box exercise," says Fry. "In Rosie's case, an excellent initial assessment was made and she was provided with special equipment. But when it got down to the level of lecturers and tutors giving the classes, there was no joined-up approach."
"Because there are so few cases challenging their approach, actually addressing the needs of disabled students is treated as a low priority. I imagine that this kind of case is likely to be discussed in the boardroom of every university around the country, and priorities will change."
For further information on disability rights, please contact Martin Harvey on 0114 266 6660 or email [email protected].
Source: Afua Hirsch and Alice Lagnado, The Guardian, 25 May 2010
This article appeared on p6 of the EducationGuardian section of the Guardian on Tuesday 25 May 2010 www.guardian.co.uk/education
