Introduction

The past 30 years have seen significant progress with regard to the inclusion of disabled students in higher education. Part 4 of the Disability Discrimination Act, passed in 1995, was amended by the Special Educational Needs and Disability Act 2001, which inserted new provisions with regard to the duties of schools and other educational establishments to disabled students. The Disability Discrimination Act was subsequently incorporated into the Equality Act 2010. Since 2001, universities have been obliged to avoid discrimination against disabled students by making reasonable adjustments and avoiding less favourable treatment. From this point, disabled students had enforceable rights to reasonable levels of support, rather than being dependent on the goodwill of staff and students. As we discuss below, participation rates of disabled students in higher education have improved rapidly and this group now make up around 15 per cent of all UK higher education students, and 17.5 per cent of first year, full-time, first degree students (HESA, 2022). Nonetheless, many problems remain, including unequal rates of participation by students with different types of impairment; higher drop-out rates and poorer degree outcomes for some groups; difficulties in accessing support; and challenges relating to social and academic inclusion. As reported in earlier research (Riddell et al, 2005a; Fuller et al, 2009; Hector, 2020), once admitted to a particular course at college or university, disabled students still have to engage in a daily struggle to access buildings, course materials and examinations. Developing friendships, building wider social networks and negotiating identity may also prove hugely challenging.