Developing a balanced model of support for students with disabilities in Higher Education Rachel Hewett, Birmingham Fellow, Vision Impairment Centre for Teaching and Research (VICTAR), University of Birmingham, UK

Overview of presentation UK context The Longitudinal Transitions Study – young people with vision impairment Bioecological Model of Inclusive Higher Education A balanced model of support Conclusions

1. UK Context: recent history UK Equality Act 2010 States that education providers should make appropriate adjustments for students with disabilities to ensure that they are not at a disadvantage when compared to their non-disabled peers. Requires providers to make reasonable adjustments HE providers should, to the best of their ability, consider in advance the barriers that a student is likely to face and make anticipatory adjustments for them.

1. UK Context: recent history Disabled Student Allowance Funds specialist equipment, non-medical support, transport Previously based around medical model of support – adjustments on an individual basis Reformed in 2016 – emphasis changed to HE providers Promoting movement in sector towards a social model of support Figure 2: Categories of support for Disabled Student Allowance – 2015/16 Category of support Examples of what each support category covers for students with VI Maximum allowance Specialist equipment Laptops with screen readers, low vision aids, electronic refreshable braille devices £5,212 for the whole course Non-medical helper Note-takers, mobility training, assistance in practical sessions £20,725 a year General Photocopying allowance, printer cartridges, printer paper £1,741 a year

Individual reasonable adjustments DSA Individual reasonable adjustments Inclusive learning environment Figure 1: A model for supporting disabled students in HE, reproduced from DfE (2017)

Typical support system in UK Student identified as disabled through declaration on application form Student invited to meet with HE disability support office to develop support plan Content of support plan shared with other relevant departments Model focused on the individual, rather than an institution as a whole Specialist support provided though Disabled Student Allowance

The challenge to institutions moving forward Individual reasonable adjustments Role of the learner Inclusive design

2. Longitudinal Transitions Project Post-16 transition experience of YP with vision impairment Background: In 2010 we recruited 82 young people: aged 14-16 years (now 20-23) supported by service for their vision impairment ‘independently complete a questionnaire’ 60 participants are still involved Interviewed approx. twice a year plus case studies in relation to different ‘pathways’ Findings can be found: www.birmingham.ac.uk/victar

Background to the project INDEPENDENT LIVING ENABLERS LABOUR MARKET – EMPLOYMENT VS NEET COMPULSORY EDUCATION ???? FULFILLING POTENTIAL BARRIERS

Data collected on HE Interviews > participants who transitioned into HE at key time points Initial application Application for Disabled Student Allowance Initial transition End of first year Case study work with 6 participants & key people providing support Family Disability Support Officers Welfare tutors Pre-dated HE reforms

Research Questions Understand what the experiences were of these young people in HE? Fulfilling potential Able to embrace full HE experience? How prepared were the YP for HE? How prepared were the HE institutions to receive them? How independent a learning experience did the YP have?

Key Finding Extremely complex support systems, large number of factors impacting upon student experiences: Society Institution Department

UK context: complex support systems Support plan communicated to department Apply through central system – declare disability HE provider receives notification of declaration – contacts student HE institution and student develop support plan facilitated by DSA Support staff employed Triggers invitation to apply for Disabled Student Allowance Student attends assessment meeting with qualified assessor Support package approved Equipment purchase

3. Bioecological Model of Inclusive Higher Education – applying Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological model of human development How inclusive is Higher Education for students with vision impairment?

Macrosystem: broader society POLICIES SOCIETAL PERCEPTIONS FUNDING

Macrosystem Disabled Students Allowance Equality Act (2010) Important legislation Providing opportunities for students with disabilities – all participants believe HE realistic aspirations University staff have a limited understanding of the Equality Act and their responsibility to make anticipatory adjustments Disabled Students Allowance Reforms require HE institutions to develop inclusive learning environments Perceptions Lower expectations of students with disabilities

Exosystem: the wider institution MACROSYSTEM EXOSYSTEM FUNDING INCLUSION POLICIES

Expectation, but limited resource to facilitate Positive: Advice widely circulated on how to make reasonable adjustments Negative: Limited staff resource to support inclusion policies “You talk to most staff and they would say ‘yeah, yeah, of course we want to support’, but they are busy, and they don’t like to be told that they have to do a lot of extra work” (Welfare tutor, elite-institution) Inclusion not at the core “I think it would be the Pro-Vice Chancellor setting up a team of people, to ensure that the university is fully accessible to anybody, whatever their disability…Everything that is done, is done with accessibility in mind.” (DS officer, Pre-1992 university)

Micro and mesosystem: immediate to the learner MACROSYSTEM MICROSYSTEM EXOSYSTEM DEPT. & LECTURES SUPPORT STAFF DSA PEERS CURRICULUM & ASSESSMENT DSO UCAS SUPPLIERS INFRASTRUCTURE

Positive: YP believe HE to be a realistic aspiration Negative: Admissions Positive: YP believe HE to be a realistic aspiration Negative: Students course choices influenced by disability Inaccessible application process “It’s not a very accessible. All the forms and stuff we get sent out in print. That was a bit frustrating. We didn’t get email copies of anything, and I wasn’t able to fill it out myself, so I had to have someone else do it for me or with me, so that was frustrating…” (Blind, Screen-reader user)

Infrastructure Positive: students facilitated by standard methods of curriculum delivery – e.g. lecture notes in advance of lectures, accessible e- libraries “It just meant that I could… when we were sat in the lecture if I couldn’t get close to the front, I didn’t have to be sat close to the front, I could sit wherever I liked and could keep up with what was being said. That was quite beneficial […] A lot of people took laptops to lectures as well, so it wasn’t like in school where you are the only one, it’s just normal at uni” (Partially Sighted, Post-1992 institution). Negative: inaccessible virtual learning environments, inaccessible documentation

Individual reasonable adjustments Examples of where not possible to make adjustments simply through inclusive practice > individual reasonable adjustments required E.g. Support in practical sessions E.g. Mobility training However, adjustments often reactionary rather than anticipatory, leading to negative outcomes for students: E.g. Delays in receiving accessible copies of key text mean unable to participate in lectures E.g. Delays compensated through extensions, which impacted on rest of academic year

Importance of partnerships Positive: student, department and disability office meeting together to discuss solutions Positive: student, external agency and HE provider working together to identify suitable support assistant Positive: forward planning – e.g. mobility support arranged in advance so student able to get around independently at start of academic year Negative: staff meeting to discuss student support needs and not inviting student to attend Negative: student not informing staff when facing problems

“Progressive mutual accommodations” Need for mutual accommodation > learning together, working in partnership A time for growth “I was much happier because I knew my way around better, and myself and my library assistant had a routine going for getting books done on time, and getting things managed in that way. I think as well, I understood what I needed a lot better. So at the beginning of the year I met with all my new tutors and went to talk to them about what I needed and stuff like that” (Blind, Post-1992 institution)

The learner and the chronosystem MACROSYSTEM LEARNER EXOSYSTEM MICROSYSTEM Chronosystem

The Learner Learner needs to be prepared for their new environment > drawing upon skills developed and previous experiences Limited specialist guidance to prepare for HE Not always got the necessary skills in place, e.g. Self advocacy Mobility Access to information

Importance of preparation: ecological transitions

4. A balanced model of support How does all this fit together? Individual reasonable adjustments Role of the learner Inclusive design

4. What is a balanced model of support? Inclusive design – at the heart of the institution, barriers addressed through inclusive practice Individual reasonable adjustments – where necessary institutions make adjustments to meet individual needs Agency – where the individual makes their own adjustments, drawing upon (and developing) their existing skillset Progressive mutual accommodations – institution and learner work together to develop a working partnership which allows students to be as independent as possible

Putting the model into practice Example access issue Inclusive learning environment Individual reasonable adjustments Agency of learner Accessing lectures Lecture notes made available to all students in advance of lectures in an accessible format Providing written descriptions for diagrams and other visual content Student has skills to use specialist equipment such as magnification software or screen readers. Accesses notes in advance Accessing reading material Providing reading lists in advance of modules starting Provision of a library assistant for independent research Student works with library assistant, directing them to identify texts that they wish to be converted into an accessible format Accessing university environment Providing an accessible campus environment with tactile paving and clear signage Arranging teaching timetable to minimise the number of rooms that the student will need to navigate between Student applies mobility skills to learn routes to get around environment independently

A balanced model of support: case study “Erika” severely sight impaired, reads through braille and speech software. Studying Arts based course requiring large volumes of reading. Challenge: obtaining accessible texts Inclusive practice: accessible library systems, purchase ebooks, reading lists in sufficient time to obtain alternative formats of texts Individual adjustments: library support for research Progressive mutual accommodations: student learning to work with research support assistant to become independent scholar

5. Conclusions Inclusion needs to be at the core of institution policy > change led from the top Inclusive practice will need to be facilitated by appropriate individual reasonable adjustments Any reasonable adjustments should be anticipatory, rather than reactionary Focus should always be on enabling student to be as independent as possible Vital to consider the role of the learner > institution and student working together through progressive mutual accommodations This begins before HE > students need to be appropriately resourced with skills prior to entry into HE, and also prepared to develop new skills

Contact details Rachel Hewett: R.G.Hewett@bham.ac.uk @RachelHewettUoB VICTAR website: www.birmingham.ac.uk/victar VICTAR blog: https://victarnews.wordpress.com/

References Bronfenbrenner, Urie. 1979. The ecology of human development: Experiments in nature and design. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Bronfenbrenner, Urie. 2005. (Ed.) Making human beings human: Bioecological perspectives on human development. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Gov.UK. 2017. “Inclusive Teaching and Learning in Higher Education as a route to Excellence.” Department for Education. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/inclusive-teaching- and-learning-in-higher-education Accessed on 3rd April 2017.

References Hewett, Rachel, Sue Keil, and Graeme Douglas. 2015a. “Experiences of blind and partially sighted young people as they make the transition into Higher Education”. Birmingham, UK: University of Birmingham. Available at: http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/schools/education/research/victar/res earch/longitudinal-transitions-study/index.aspx Hewett, Rachel, Graeme Douglas, Mike McLinden, and Sue Keil. 2017. “Developing an inclusive learning environment for students in higher education: progressive mutual accommodation and learning experiences in the United Kingdom.” European Journal of Special Needs Education. 32 (1): 89-109. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08856257.2016.1254971