The parents of Bristol University student Natasha Abrahart have spoken in-depth about the death of their daughter - and how the University of Bristol failed her, after a judge ruled the university had discriminated against her before her death.
The 20-year-old student was doing well on her physics course but developed Severe Social Anxiety Disorder. She took her own life in April 2018, and was found dead on the day she had been due to give a presentation to a large group of other students in a big lecture theatre - something she told tutors and counsellors she would not be able to do.
The judge in the case, a senior circuit court judge called Alex Ralton, found that the University of Bristol had breached disability discrimination laws multiple times in the way they dealt with Natasha and her disability. The university said the ruling set a precedent for the way universities across the country deal with students with mental health conditions, and the implications of that were so huge that they were considering appealing against the verdict.
