Sharing information about disabled students

Clare Taylor - Disabled Student Assessment & Support

Project overview

Navigating barriers: exploring how information about disabled students is shared with staff across the University.

Key findings

Students are unsure if academic staff have received their Support Summary Sheet:

“I am normally wondering who actually knows about my situation and who I’m going to have to explain the full thing to - which is mentally exhausting to worry about”

Academics report problems accessing Support Summary Sheets due to difficulties locating the password, and keeping track of Support Summary Sheets which have been shared via email
Academics and students are unsure what the adjustments listed on the Support Summary Sheet mean in practice, and how they could be implemented
Academics report that they often receive Support Summary Sheets after teaching has started or do not receive Support Summary Sheets at all and are, therefore, unaware of students’ teaching and learning adjustments
Students do not feel their teaching and learning adjustments are being put in place and can feel compelled to inform academics, which can be difficult to do in front of peers:

“I have had to ask in front of the rest of the students in the session to have my adjustments […] which I find awkward and embarrassing”

Implications for practice

Embed the University’s inclusive baseline standards so that student education is delivered inclusively, which will reduce the need for individual adjustments
Inform students who their Support Summary Sheet has been shared with, and explain how common reasonable adjustments are implemented locally

Check-in with disabled students to identify any issues with their adjustments, and reduce the need for students to approach academic staff and/or identify themselves in front of their peers

Access Working with disabled students guidance on the staff intranet, including the guidance on ‘Commonly recommended reasonable adjustments’

Long term, the findings indicate that alternative ways of sharing disability information should be explored, that includes module level information for module leaders, student photos, and automatically updates academic staff if a student changes modules, programme and/or level of study

If you want to find out more details about this fellowship or what the next steps were upon completion please read the full snapshot

See a summary of the survey results

Read the extended report and recommendations

or contact Clare (C.S.Taylor@leeds.ac.uk).

Project start date: September 2023