Addressing disparity of support

Co-creating continued professional developments and guidelines on reasonable adjustments with disabled students
Addressing disparity of support logo

Addressing disparity of support

Co-creating continued professional developments and guidelines on reasonable adjustments with disabled students
Title: Addressing disparity of support: Co-creating continued professional developments and guidelines on reasonable adjustments with disabled students
Funding amount: £174,000
Location: University of Plymouth, University of Birmingham, and University of Wolverhampton
Dates: 2025–2027
University of Plymouth PI: Professor Suanne Gibson
External Co-I: Dr Francesca Peruzzo (University of Birmingham) and Professor Zeta Williams-Brown (University of Wolverhampton)
University of Plymouth RF:  Dr Kathrin Paal 
 
This Office for Students funded project addresses persistent inequalities faced by disabled students in higher education through a participatory approach centred on lived experiences. Despite extensive research documenting challenges in provision and representation, the Office for Students reports continuing attainment gaps, with disabled students experiencing lower degree outcomes and higher withdrawal rates.
Working in partnership with undergraduate disabled students across three institutions (University of Plymouth, University of Birmingham and University of Wolverhampton), this project focuses on students' experiences of Reasonable Adjustment Plans in both academic and personal support contexts. It recognises that while educational adjustments have received attention, the effectiveness of personal adjustments remains understudied.
The project introduces several innovations: 
  • prioritising user-led knowledge through genuine partnership with disabled students as co-researchers, 
  • employing flexible, mixed-methods data collection that accommodates individual preferences, and 
  • establishing collaboration between universities and disability-led organisations (Disability Rights UK and Disabled Students UK) to combine academic expertise with lived experience.
Key outputs include national, freely accessible continuing professional development programmes for higher education staff, focusing separately on academic and student services support. These will be informed by disabled students' experiences, staff perspectives, and attitudinal surveys. Additionally, we will develop sector-wide university guidelines for equitable progression and create an "inclusion by design" approach.
All resources will be housed on an Office for Students platform, ensuring sustainability and sector-wide accessibility. Through this approach, the project aims to eliminate degree outcome gaps for disabled students and transform institutional practices to create more equitable higher education experiences.
 
 

Project timeline

Co-researcher recruitment and research tools development

February – June 2025

Sample population recruitment and dissemination of surveys

June – December 2025

Survey data analysis, workshop design and rollout

December 2025 - March 2026

Workshop analysis and CPD design

April – August 2026

CPD rollout and evaluation 

September - December 2026

Project evaluation and dissemination of results

January – February 2027

Across the higher education sector, there remains a clear gap between what disability support promises and the lived experience of disabled students. This research adds important evidence to patterns that are already well documented – while support might exist on paper, delivery is often delayed, inconsistent or dependent on students having to chase, repeat and self-advocate to access the adjustments they are legally entitled to.

The findings make clear that this is a systemic issue rather than a matter of individual failings. Staff commitment is evident throughout the report, but the pressures they are working under – including gaps in training and limited time and capacity – are driving a model of support that is reactive rather than preventative.
What comes through strongly is the need for a genuinely joined up, whole-institution approach. This report sets out clear and practical priorities for change: strengthening the capacity of disability services, implementing consistent training for all staff and embedding core accessibility measures, like lecture recording, captions and microphone use, as a standard across institutions. The Equality Act 2010 places a clear duty on institutions to make reasonable adjustments and remove barriers to participation. Compliance can’t depend on individual discretion or on how persistent a student is in pursuing support. The sector now requires senior level leadership, clear accountability and a shift from reactive fixes to inclusive design embedded from the outset.
Rundip Thind
Disability Rights UK

At Disabled Students UK, we commend the University of Plymouth, Wolverhampton and Birmingham for undertaking this work, providing a vital roadmap for institutional transformation. The results match our UK-wide findings from the Annual Disabled Student Survey and expose the fragility of current support systems, which rely disproportionately on self advocacy from disabled students in order to meet minimum accessibility requirements.

The report is a call to action for senior leadership to invest in sustainable staffing, mandatory training and Universal Design mandates so that the responsibility for accessibility is lifted from the student and placed where it belongs: on the institution.
Mette Anwar-Westander
CEO Disabled Students UK
 

Working in collaboration with:

The team