ADCET Webinar: What We're Learning - Empowering Disability Services in Australian Higher Education

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Despite supporting over 98,000 plus students with disability, we know remarkably little about the experiences and needs of disability practitioners in Australian universities. This ACSES Equity Fellowship is changing that.

In this webinar, Darlene McLennan shared early findings from her ACSES fellowship on disability services in Australian higher education. The research used participatory action methods to understand three key questions: What does disability support provision actually look like across the sector? What is the experience of practitioners working in this field? And what skills and conditions do practitioners need to effectively support students?

Drawing on national surveys of disability service managers and practitioners, in-depth interviews with students with disability, and consultation with sector stakeholders, this webinar presented emerging insights about service structures, staffing patterns, workload challenges, and professional development needs. Importantly, it centred the voices of both practitioners and students with disability about what works, what doesn't, and what needs to change.

Early themes include significant variation in how services are structured and resourced, gaps between practitioner needs and available support, the complex relationship between compliance and genuine inclusion, and questions about what actually drives institutional change. The webinar also explored tensions between individual student support and systemic advocacy, and what students themselves say matters most in their interactions with disability services.

While the fellowship continues through to the end of April 2026, these preliminary findings offer valuable insights for practitioners, service managers, university leaders, and students.

This research was funded by the Australian Centre for Student Equity and Success (ACSES)

Presenter

Darlene McLennan is an ACSES Equity Fellow who has stepped away from managing the Australian Disability Clearinghouse on Education and Training (ADCET) to undertake her fellowship research. With 40 years' experience working in the disability sector, including 20 years within the tertiary disability sector, she has led nationally significant projects including the Universal Design for Learning initiative and NDIS Pre-planning Toolkit. As someone with a Specific Learning Disability, Darlene brings personal insights into the challenges and opportunities faced by students with disability in tertiary education. She holds Life Membership with both ATEND and EPHEA, recognising her leadership in the sector.

(March 2026)

ADCET is hosted by the University of Tasmania