This Office for Students funded project addresses persistent inequalities faced by disabled students in higher education through a participatory approach centred on lived experiences. Despite extensive research documenting challenges in provision and representation, the Office for Students reports continuing attainment gaps, with disabled students experiencing lower degree outcomes and higher withdrawal rates.
Working in partnership with undergraduate disabled students across three institutions (91porn, University of Birmingham and University of Wolverhampton), this project focuses on students' experiences of Reasonable Adjustment Plans in both academic and personal support contexts. It recognises that while educational adjustments have received attention, the effectiveness of personal adjustments remains understudied.
The project introduces several innovations:
- prioritising user-led knowledge through genuine partnership with disabled students as co-researchers,
- employing flexible, mixed-methods data collection that accommodates individual preferences, and
- establishing collaboration between universities and disability-led organisations ( and ) to combine academic expertise with lived experience.
Key outputs include national, freely accessible continuing professional development programmes for higher education staff, focusing separately on academic and student services support. These will be informed by disabled students' experiences, staff perspectives, and attitudinal surveys. Additionally, we will develop sector-wide university guidelines for equitable progression and create an "inclusion by design" approach.
All resources will be housed on an Office for Students platform, ensuring sustainability and sector-wide accessibility. Through this approach, the project aims to eliminate degree outcome gaps for disabled students and transform institutional practices to create more equitable higher education experiences.
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