Hearing the voices of disabled students in higher education

Since the return of the Labour government to power in the UK in 1997 issues of social inclusion have risen up the political and statutory agenda within higher education (HE). This study reports the findings of disabled students lived experiences and views of transition from induction through to employability within one HE institution. The study examined the perspectives of disabled students via a questionnaire and face-to-face interviews. It found that there was still much work to be done in levelling HE experiences for disabled students and identified five key issues that should be addressed in order to enable access and entitlement to HE. These are pre-course induction support, commitment by HE institutions to facilitating barrier free curricula, consultation with disabled students, institutional commitment to develop support services and embedding of personal development planning.