The AHEAD Response to the Review of the Fund for Students with
Disabilities
One size does not fit all
June 2012
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Recommendations
1. Comprehensive research should be commissioned into the effectiveness of the fund in
supporting students with a range of disabilities in higher education and into the
relationship between accommodations, supports and educational outcomes.
2. The NAO could consider reviewing the funding allocated to creating alt. textbooks and
look at the efficiencies in developing a centralized Alt.Text Service which would have
responsibility for the creation and provision of alternative text across the sector
including liaison with publishers to acquire textbooks in accessible formats and for
producing alt. materials.
3. The Fund recognises in its allocation to categories of students with disability and specific
learning disabilities that there is a huge disparity in resources between the disability
support services in the university sector compared with the institutes of technology.
The IOT Sector has disproportionately more students with specific learning difficulties
and is heavily reliant upon the Fund to provide for their supports. Furthermore many
institutions are small in the number of participating students and do not benefit from
the economies of scale which the larger institutions do when providing support services
to students with specific learning difficulties.
4. The fund should continue to support the process of Individual Needs Assessment in
institutes of technology as a critical instrument in addressing the needs of students with
disabilities and in assuring systematic compliance with equality and disability legislation.
5. The availability of access to key generic learning skills (including reflective learning skills,
written communication, note-taking etc) provided through the fund to students with
identified need should continue, these would undoubtedly benefit all students, but
students with disabilities and learning difficulties will not survive without them.
6. Greater encouragement and liaison is needed between different levels of education
and events such as Better Options raise aspirations of careers amongst underrepresented groups.
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7. The WAM Network is available to share information and learning with staff involved in
Placement and Career Services supporting students and graduates to make the
transition into work.
8. An Impact assessment of any proposed changes to the fund should be carried out to
analyze the potential impact on user groups such as students with all disabilities and
the implications for disability support services within the range of different
institutions, one size does not fit all.
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Introduction
AHEAD welcomes the opportunity to contribute to the Review of the Fund which is being
carried out with a view to identifying areas of improvement. Set up by the Department of
Education and Administered by AHEAD in 1994, initially the fund supported 50 students in 16
higher education institutions at a total cost of £80,000. It has moved on hugely since then and
now supports over 6,000 students with disabilities and specific learning difficulties in higher
education. The Fund has played a significant role not only in supporting students, but also in
facilitating higher education institutions to build an infrastructure to include students with
disabilities and in mobilising positive attitudes them. The basic philosophy of the Fund was
that no student who would otherwise gain access to higher education should be prevented
from doing so by reason of a disability and this approach remains the central pillar of the Fund.
This document provides feedback from AHEAD to the National Access Office on the Review of
the Fund for Students with Disabilities in Higher Education 2012. AHEAD represents most
higher education institutions in Ireland, further education colleges, Teagasc and students with
disabilities. It will specifically address the questions posed by the NAO in their preliminary
Review Document.
Q1: In considering the current model of allocation and the stakeholders
experience of the Fund, what is working well and what is not?
The Fund to date has been the sole mechanism for the cost of additional supports for students
with disabilities. More importantly has made the difference between success and failure for
this cohort of students. In fact the availability of additional funding has enabled the student
with a disability to exercise his/her right to an education, there is little point in giving the right
to access without the resources needed to engage with the course.
It was established in recognition of the fact that many students with significant disabilities have
additional often costly support requirements that do not come under mainstream provision and
has been instrumental in the success that has been achieved to date. What is clear after many
years of operation is that One Size does not Fit All and that the extent to which a student
requires additional supports depends on the interaction of a number of factors including:
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the nature of disability;
level of impact of disability in a learning environment;
the capacity of mainstream teaching to meet the needs of the student;
the extent to which the course uses technology as an instrument for learning;
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the demands and culture of the particular course;
the experience/expertise of disability of course tutors, the size of disability support
services.
In the survey of student opinion1 students expressed frustration at not only at the variation of
standards of support from one college to another, but that this also varied from one course to
another within individual institutions. They identified the need for national quality standards so
that a student with a disability who moved from one college to another could rely on a
minimum standard of support.
“ Why is the level of support different in every college, it shouldn’t be dependent on whether or
not the access Officer etc has all the information?”
Nationally 60% of students who benefit from the fund are students with dyslexia, with 60% of
the Fund is allocated to meeting their needs. AHEAD recognises the significant improvements
in both the recognition of disabilities such as dyslexia, and the range of accommodations and
support structures which have been put in place for affected students in higher education over
the last decade. These are essential services and need to be safeguarded in the current
economic climate so that these students do not bear the brunt of funding cuts and tightening
funding criteria. Furthermore institutions of higher education are obliged to comply with
equality and disability legislation by ensuring there is a systematic identification of reasonable
accommodations in place to address the individual needs of all students with disability and
specific learning difficulty.
1.1 Creation of Alternative Textbooks:
Visually impaired and blind students who require textbooks in alternate formats experience
great difficulty accessing textbooks and other materials in real time in comparison to their non
disabled peers. The difficulty is that the numbers of students experiencing this difficulty is small
and spread across the sector. The NAO could consider reviewing the funding made available to
create alt textbooks and consider a centralized model which would have responsibility for the
creation and provision of alternative text across the sector including liaison with publishers to
acquire textbooks in accessible formats and for producing alt. format materials.
1
Sharing Students stories, Hearing students voices, AHEAD 2011
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Q2: How can the Fund promote Independent Learning?
Students with disability are not a homogenous group, even within categories of disability and
their support requirements will be differences. The current allocation model uses a system of
Individual Needs Assessment to identify support needs, as recommended by the National
Disability Authority. Yet the decentralization of the Fund together with the increasing
numbers of applications has created a trend towards a generalized allocation of supports for
categories of students. For example, decisions regarding supports for students with dyslexia
are based purely of levels of functional literacy. This approach cannot assure that individual
learning needs are met as it as it does not account for the complexity of dyslexia which affects
individuals differently, nor does ensure compliance with current legislation. An individualized
approach will accurately identify the learning requirements of the student in relation to the
demands of the course and signpost appropriate supports and accommodations across all the
academic functions.
2.2 Individual Needs Assessment
Generalized allocations of supports represent a blunt instrument and do not address
adequately the identification of individual support needs and reasonable accommodations as
required by equality and disability legislation. The process of Individual Needs Assessment is a
key mechanism for selecting the appropriate supports within the context of the demands of
the particular course and the infrastructure within the institution as the needs will differ
significantly depending on the nature and demands of the course. A quality assured needs
assessment will provide a pathway to independent learning for the student while an
inadequate needs assessment can lead to inappropriate and costly supports. The fund should
continue to support Needs Assessment as a critical instrument to address the needs of students
with disabilities, thus reflecting the huge variation of resources available within and between
higher education institutions. Furthermore there is a proportion of students who have
undiagnosed learning difficulties who cannot afford the psychological assessments required for
eligibility for the fund, but who require some form of preliminary assessment to determine if
there are sufficient indicators of dyslexia to justify a full diagnostic assessment.
2.3 Specialized Study Skills
Students want to be assured of a minimum standard and to know their preferred methods of
support will be respected. The first year of student experience is crucial to retention and the
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HEA national Strategy 2recognizes the importance of generic academic and learning skills for all
students, for students with learning difficulties they are even more crucial. The Fund has
enabled the development of a range of modules customized to address the additional
difficulties of students with specific learning difficulties experience and to enable them to
manage their own learning in an academic environment. These modules are available through
the Disability Support Services nationally, re commended by the Dyslexia Association and
HADD and include such provisions as:
 Individual Assessment of Need;
 The development of specialized study support skills customized for students with
learning difficulties;
 Independent learning skills and Academic Tuition;
 Mind Mapping and memorization techniques,
 Essay writing;
 The use of ICT and Assistive Technology;
 The production of alternative format textbooks;
 Advice on appropriate support to staff throughout the institution.
The availability of access to key generic learning skills provided through the Fund including
reflective learning skills, written communication, note-taking etc would benefit all students, but
students with disabilities and learning difficulties will not survive without them.
2.2 Sustainable Solutions
It is recognised by the HEA; by the EU in the Bologna Communiqué 2009 and the UN convention
of Human Rights that mainstreaming supports for students with disabilities means that all
academic schools take responsibility for the inclusion of students with disabilities. The finances
available to the Fund are static yet the numbers eligible for the fund has practically doubled in
three years from 3,099 in 2007/8 to 6, 932 in 2010/11. Add to this the fact that the fund is not
currently being used by eligible students within further education, nor is it used by students
with disabilities on part time courses, who may become eligible in the future, the current
funding arrangement is not sustainable and puts huge pressure on existing services.
What is needed is a sustainable solution that looks to mainstream teaching and learning to be
inclusive across the whole institution as highlighted in the HEA National Strategy for Higher
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National Strategy for Higher Education to 2030
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Education to 2030. The challenge is to use available resources including the Fund and the
Access grant to assure both specialised supports and the quality of teaching for students across
all academic departments. This means shifting responsibility from disability support to
academic departments. This is already happening and there is greater awareness of good
teaching and learning practices and genuinely inclusive learning practice amongst academic
staff. The NAIRTL and Lin conferences highlight the increasing flexibility pedagogy and the
greater use of technology and e.learning currently embedded in academic practice. Colleges
are increasingly taking a more strategic approach to inclusion and broadening access to
supports by installing appropriate software such as Inspiration and TEXT Help Gold in libraries
and study areas, and having policies on accessible documents throughout the institution. Many
institutions offer study support to all students and include provision for students with
disabilities within this framework. These mainstream initiatives to promote inclusion can be
supported through the Access Grant.
2.3 National Perspective
It must be recognised that there is huge variation in the size, resources and capacity of higher
education institutions to mainstream disability supports and that inclusion still presents
significant challenge for institutions that are at different stages along the continuum. For
example the university sector has in the past had the advantage of the Strategic Innovation
Funding to develop essential disability services which are now resourced from mainstream
funding. This is not the case in Institutes of Technology who are still heavily reliant upon the
Fund to provide for essential disability support services. Many smaller institutions cannot
benefit from the economies of scale which the larger institutions do in using the Fund.
Furthermore, while mainstream developments can certainly greatly reduce the cost of
providing additional supports specifically for disabilities and specific learning difficulties, given
the large numbers of students with dyslexia enrolled3, there will always be a requirement to
provide specialised dyslexia supports to ensure the different support needs of students with
specific learning difficulties are met within that service. Students want a quality assured
service that they can rely on from one course to another; a minimum standard of inclusion.
Research should be commissioned into the effectiveness of the Fund in supporting students
with a range of disabilities and the relationship between accommodations, supports and
educational outcomes.
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Ahead Participation Rates, 2010/2011
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Q 3: Students with sensory and physical disabilities are under-represented in
higher education, they are not accessing courses
Greater encouragement and liaison is needed between higher and secondary schools through
events such as Better Options are needed to raise aspirations amongst under-represented
groups
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Guidance Counsellors and teachers in secondary schools need up-skilling to include
students with disability in their services/teaching practice.
Greater liaison is needed with the colleges of education to bring more people with
disabilities into the profession of teaching to provide role models for children with
disabilities. In particular, people who use Irish Sign language need access to teacher
education.
State Examinations Commission policies on reasonable accommodations in
examinations and the use of technology in state examinations needs to be reviewed as
the policies are inadequate and do not allow students to adequately demonstrate their
ability.
The NCSE are currently conducting research on the transition of people with disabilities
into higher education and will be publishing a research paper on this issue this year.
Q4: Does the Fund reach all students with disabilities who need support?
The fund reaches students on full time funded courses in higher education who disclose their
condition and can provide adequate medical verification. There are many students who are
outside these categories such as:
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Students experiencing difficulties but who do not reach the rigid criteria for supports.
Students engaged in education who do not have a medical verification of their
condition, for example students presenting with difficulties consistent with dyslexia.
Students in Further Education not engaged on PLC courses.
Students with a disability on TEAGASC courses. They do not come under the remit of the
Department of Education because they are studying agriculture; they cannot access the
fund and are severely disadvantaged.
Students on courses in private colleges including open university and other distance
learning courses have no access to supports,
Students with disabilities on part time courses.
Q5: Should the Fund have a stronger focus on the labour market?
AHEAD has developed a successful model of connecting with employment and raising
awareness of the qualifications and skills of graduates with disabilities. It has supported
students with disabilities in making the successful transition to employment over a six year
period through the GET AHEAD graduate forum and Willing Able Mentoring programme, a fully
paid internship scheme for graduates with disabilities. Support works; 40% of the graduates
who participated on the WAM programme found employment through the programme. Higher
education does not support individual graduates to secure work, but rather creates the
conditions for them to acquire experience. Many institutions have responded to the Bologna
Agreement by including work placement, internships and co-operative learning as essential
elements within courses. While these work placements are invaluable in developing key
employment skills relevant to an occupational, it is more difficult for students with disabilities
to find experience commensurate with their skills and abilities. Similarly graduates with
disabilities need a more nuanced response to facilitate them in navigating a quite hostile work
environment. According to recent NDA research public attitudes towards disability are more
negative than five years ago and there is greater resistance to employing people with
disabilities. Graduates with disabilities meet significant barriers in accessing the workplace in
spite of their qualifications. AHEAD and FAS research indicates that 75% of employers are not
employing graduates with disabilities. As more and more courses are encouraged to
incorporate some aspect of work placement there is a corresponding need to assure the correct
supports for students with disabilities so they can experience the same workplace learning as
their peers.
Students with disabilities making the transition to work require the following structured
supports:
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An informed Career Service with staff prepared to manage disability in their service.
Guidance to manage disclosure and other disability related issues.
A resource to build sustainable relationships with employers.
Links to appropriate employment opportunities.
Needs Assessment for accommodating students in the workplace;
A support mechanism for employers is vital in supporting them to deal with issues
arising from disability such as: The inclusive interview, What is a reasonable
accommodation? What is assistive technology? How to audit the workplace; training for
line managers.
A detailed knowledge of supports and disability grants available to employers.
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Job preparation support including Job Search, CV. Preparation.
Succeeding at interview.
WAM Community Network:
The AHEAD WAM community network shares learning and insights about the transition into the
workplace for graduates with disabilities, with career counsellors and employers who are
participating in the WAM programme. This WAM Network can be developed to up-skill staff
involved in Placement and Career Services in Needs Assessment for the Workplace and Creating
Inclusive Workplaces.
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