Disability Specific Adjustments

Acquired Brain Injury | ADHD | Autism Spectrum Condition | Blind and Vision Impaired | Deaf and Hearing Impaired | Health Conditions | Intellectual Disability | Long COVID | Mental Health Condition | Multiple Chemical Sensitivity | Physical Disability | Specific Learning Disability

The primary responsibility of any post-secondary education provider is to offer the best possible academic experience to all students. Students achieve their goals and realise their potential in different ways, and this is especially true for students with disability. Disability practitioners play a central role in helping students and staff understand how disability can affect learning and assessment, and in identifying reasonable adjustments (sometimes referred to as accommodations).

This section provides an overview of some of the more common disability and health conditions that can impact the student learning experience. Disability Practitioner Strategies are provided to outline possible adjustments that could be implemented to support students in an educational context.

Remember that adjustments are not a replacement for inclusive and accessible learning design. Implementing Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles to create more inclusive and accessible learning environments by default is also central to ensuring that students with disability can fully realise their right to inclusive education.

Determining adjustments

Determining the reasonableness of appropriate adjustments for disability requires careful consideration, care, and collaboration. Given the highly individual nature of disability and the vast range of competencies required in different courses of study there is no single formula or set of rules to assist in this activity. Each individual’s experience of disability will present a diverse range of strengths and support needs in a learning environment.

This section does not provide a comprehensive list of disability experiences or learning adjustments, but may be a useful starting point for your work with students and staff. Remember: each person's experience of disability is multidimensional, unique, and complex. A student’s experience of disability will also be mediated by intersectional factors such as gender, age, socio-economic status, race, and other co-occurring conditions which may compound their privilege or marginalisation in a learning context.

The guiding principles that underlie these suggestions are that learning adjustments should always:

• be negotiated collaboratively between the student and staff member;
• consider the individual student’s needs;
• not make assumptions about a student’s capacity based on their disability or condition;
• reflect evidence-based approaches and good practice;
• maintain the integrity of academic standards and/or inherent requirements;
• be applied flexibly; and
• be reviewed regularly and as needed.