Disabled people are almost three times more likely than non-disabled people to have no qualifications at all.
At the same time only 25% of disabled people aged 21 to 64 have a degree compared to just over 40% of their non-disabled peers.
These statistics might feel shocking at first glance, but not when you look at the number of ways disabled people struggle to access every stage of the education system.
Many young people look forward to turning 18, leaving home and going to university, but for disabled young people, the process is significantly harder.
Dan Rowley, 22, from the Isle of Wight, has Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and Fibromyalgia causing chronic pain, fatigue and dislocations. He originally went to a university in the Midlands - but problems with inaccessibility meant he was forced to drop out. His university was concerned any assistive equipment - such as kitchen equipment with special grips, kitchen stools, and grab rails, might be stolen. They only allowed a shower stool as others couldn’t see it and there would have been significant injury risk without it. He eventually completed his degree through the Open University.
“In order to receive any assistance at university I had to provide evidence which the university GP charged £30 per letter for,” he says. “I was told I could have no assistive equipment because it would be stolen, and my accommodation had no lift, so I had to get up five flights of stairs.
He continues: “On a number of occasions I crawled up and down these stairs on my bum to get to lectures. I was a fall risk, and nobody would help me, with campus security assuming I was drunk.”
Under the Equality Act 2010, providers are required to make reasonable adjustments for disabled students, but the implementation of these is hugely variable.
Dan adds: “I was having panic attacks and constant anxiety about assignments due to the extension policy of up to only three days maximum extension after filling out pages of paperwork. When I was at the Open University, I was automatically offered a month extension on every piece of work, which made it significantly less stressful.
“Students are not being respected,” they say. “Universities frequently make excuses for inaccessibility with assumptions that students are lazy or taking advantage of the system.”
Only around 40% of eligible students are accessing Disabled Students’ Allowance, with many saying they are unaware of the fund, or the process is not accessible to apply to. This is despite many providers relying heavily on it to support their disabled students, assuming they are receiving adjustments through assistive technology for example.
Disabled students are more likely to drop out of university, and when they do finish their course, they tend to achieve lower results.
However, university students are not the only ones facing institutional issues of ableism and losing out on education as a result.
Nina, 34, from Nottinghamshire and known as @adhd_shepherdess on TikTok, went viral for discussing how her young autistic nine year-old son was excluded from primary school - for behaviour that occured due to his autistic traits, including differences in how he communicates.
“He noticed all of the children go to lunch and wanted to go and play with them, but they said he wasn’t allowed to because of his behaviour 15 minutes prior,” she explains. “A staff member who wasn’t previously involved continually stopped him from going to lunch with all the other children until he reached the point of having a meltdown.”
“It was later suggested he wasn’t allowed to be in the lunch hall for safety reasons, despite lack of evidence of this.”
Nina’s son is one of many waiting for an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP). A report from Ofsted last year found that some children are experiencing up to a five-year wait time for their EHCP – something which ultimately helps them to apply for needed additional, disability-specific support.
“We’re applying for an EHCP and they’re going to advise them that he is violent and shouldn’t be in certain schools,” Nina continues, “so it’s now going to affect his education going forward, when they have triggered him into that incident. He isn’t violent at home.”
Around 30% of current EHCPs belong to autistic children, with numbers increasing year-on-year. Many children are left without an EHCP, whether that be due to the timeframe it takes or the process being inaccessible to many.
64.2% of pupils with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) support are boys, but this is decreasing. In a time where there is a significant rise in girls being diagnosed as autistic or with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) later in life, many will have gone through their education without any support at all.
A lack of adjustments for exams also occurs in secondary schools and sixth forms, where disabled students are struggling to find themselves on an even footing to their peers.
Sophia Keaveney, 18, from Greenwich, London, is an A-Level student who wants to become a diagnostic radiographer, after receiving treatment for a grade four brain tumour aged 15.
She is studying chemistry and maths but acquired brain trauma has left her in the lower second percentile for processing speed, leading King’s College Hospital doctors to recommend Sophia undertakes her exams in an open-book format. This would mean having additional information in the exam, such as an adapted textbook to support Sophia’s brain injury and processing.
Sophia’s memory cannot be improved just by revision or repetition due to the nature of her brain injury, meaning approved adjustments like keyword sheets or extra time will not suffice.
“We started talking about my reasonable adjustments the summer before I went into sixth form,” she says. “And it was only two weeks ago we finally got given a plan with nothing we asked for.
“They’re giving 100% extra time and coloured paper, but you can’t finish an exam if you don’t have the information you need. I spent my summer making reference materials for them to approve as an adjustment, but they never got back to us.
Sophia continues: “Many doctors and psychologists say I need extreme adjustments because of the brain trauma I’ve been through… I’m going into these exams knowing I won’t get the grades I want [and] I might not get to go to the university I want. I didn’t choose to get a brain tumour; I just need a little bit of support.”
Without the support requested, the stress and mental load of inaccessibility is causing her to have regular seizures.
“The NHS saved her life and got the cancer in remission in a period of 12 months,” Sophia’s father adds. “It’s taken 18 months for the exam boards to work out how to support her in an exam.”
Sophia’s exam boards, OCR and Pearson, say they are “incredibly sympathetic” to her situation and “want her to get the results she deserves”.
She says: “We’ve looked at specific and bespoke arrangements over many months and have put arrangements in place with the school to allow her to take her exams. This has involved working with Sophia, her family and the school.
“However, we are formally obliged to protect the privacy of any candidate and therefore cannot discuss an individual student, their disabilities, or the arrangements that we’ve made, in the media - particularly while she’s still sitting her exams.
“We are committed to doing our best to support her.”
Similarly, Ofqual, the regulator for exams and qualifications in England, adds: “We have every sympathy with students who have suffered illness or misfortune. The law requires exam boards to consider reasonable adjustments to how disabled students are assessed for their qualifications.
“Ofqual does not enforce equalities duties but does consider complaints in relation to whether an awarding organisation has complied with its obligations under Ofqual’s regulatory framework.”
