D Isability Service Annual Report 2010-11

Disability Service Annual Report 2010-11

Our mission is to provide an integrated range of high quality services for disabled students that promote equality and inclusion and enable disabled students to engage and succeed in all of their University experience without disadvantage that relates to impairment.

What are the things that inform our values and the way that we work?

· Strong commitment to promoting a social model of equality.

· Need to have respect for and be responsive to our stakeholders.

· Valuing diversity and difference.

· Being inclusive and non-judgemental in our approach.

· Committed to continuous improvement / excellence.

· Promoting change through creative and innovative approaches to service delivery.

Who are our main stakeholders?

Disabled Students (prospective and current).
University Staff in Schools and Central Services (with responsibility for disabled students).
Disabled Staff and Staff with responsibility for disabled staff (including managers) in Schools and Central Services.
Funding Bodies (University Finance, HEFCE, SFE, NHS, ERSC).
Service Providers (Clear Links, Social Services and other care providers, Assessment Centres, Educational Psychologists, Study Coaches).

Executive Summary

The Disability Service has 3 key functions:

· providing 1:1 support advice and guidance to individual disabled students;

· offering a University wide screening and assessment process that identifies and supports students with Specific Learning Difficulties (SpLD);

· working with other University staff to support and develop practice and policies that promote inclusion and ensure the best possible outcome for disabled students.

Key Achievements 2010/11:

Growth

Steady growth in numbers of students accessing the Service over the past 5 years, with the University Data Centre recording 884 in 2010/11 (87 more than the previous year). Bigger increases in some Schools than others and in particular the School of Health and the School of Life Science. There appears to have been a drop in disabled student numbers on the School of Management, SLED and SSIS during the period (Figure 1).

Core Team has grown in response to the increase in demand. A 0.5 FTE Mental Health/ Wellbeing Adviser was approved in 2009 and in August 2011 fixed-term contracts for 0.5 Administrative Support Assistant and an additional 10 hours per week for the Administrative Assistants as well as an additional 7.25 hours for a Disability Adviser -SpLD were agreed. The core team for the start of the academic year 11/12 will consist of a total of 13 members.

The team of freelance Educational Support Workers and Study Coaches has also grown in line with increased demand from 6 in 2006/7 to 16 in 2010/11.

Moved location

We moved to new location in Student Central in August 2010, this has been very positive as we have better visibility and much improved facilities.

Provided a range of support, advice and guidance

Overall numbers increased by 87 disabled students from 2009/10 to 2010/11(Figure 4&5). We have also seen an increase in the numbers of students successfully applying for Disabled Student’s Allowance (DSA) (Figure 6). The most significant increase in numbers are among students on the Autistic Spectrum (up 8), SpLDs (up 65) and those in the group of 3 categories that includes students with mental health difficulties (up 42). These are the 3 areas that both expertise and resources within the Service have grown over the past few years. Other categories have remained largely static, but the impairment category called ‘unseen’ has seen a decrease in student numbers. The other category that has seen a drop in numbers is in students who are deaf and hearing impaired.

Improved Screening for SpLD

We have improved and streamlined screening for Specific Learning Difficulties and this has resulted in a 12% increase in the numbers of students with a positive diagnosis of SpLD, in 2010/11 compared with the previous year (Figure 7). We have concerns about the continued availability of Access to Learning Funds (ALF) as this is our main source of funding to subsidise Educational Psychologists Assessments for students.

Growth in the Educational Support Work Scheme

This year the numbers of student supported by the Study Coaches and Educational Support Workers have increased. 16 coaches have provided 3503 hours of intensive 1:1 support (figure 8). Feedback from students suggests that this support has played a crucial part in their engagement, progression and success.

Provided Training and Development

We continue to work closely with Staff Development to provide training and awareness on a range of issues around disability equality and mental health. This year we have also designed and delivered bespoke training in Schools and with the Centre for Educational Development around disability equality and LTA.

Worked with Estates

We have excellent working relationships with Estates and continue to work with them on the task of making the Campus more accessible. We worked with n-able (Disabled Staff Network) to organise a successful consultation event that provided the basis of a University wide access and orientation audit of the external environment on campus.

Mental Health Forum

Meets 4 times a year and provides opportunities for sharing ideas and good practice and improving service delivery.

Disability Equality Forum

Meets 4 times a year and has a changed format and focus. We have a strong commitment to developing this forum as a space to hear the ‘disabled student voice’.

Partnership Working with Schools and other University Divisions

Reasonable Adjustments in Placement Practice

A successful project with 3 Schools was piloted, with the main aim of improving the experience for disabled students on placement by improving communication and awareness raising.

Communicating with Schools

We have improved our systems for communicating with colleagues in Schools and other Divisions but this area continues to present real challenges. We have been engaged in on-going work with colleagues in LSS to make the process more effective by sharing information about adjustments for disabled students, directly through SAINT.

Adjustments in Exams

Information about adjustment in exams is now communicated directly through SAINT, making the process more efficient. But as the numbers of disabled students rises, requests/entitlement to more adjusted exams also rises. This is difficult to manage and supports a growing argument, that the University should be exploring more inclusive assessment practices that would minimise the need for ‘adjusted’ exams.

Inclusive LTA

We are active members of a group organised through the Centre for Educational Development called DILTA that looks at ways of making Learning Teaching and Assessment more inclusive.

Widening Participation (WP)

We continue to work with the WP Team to promote and deliver activities that will encourage participation in the University by disabled young people. This year we co-organised a successful Spring School in collaboration with the Media Museum called a Media Workshop.

Working with the Eye Clinic (RDVS)

Students who experience visual disturbance and reading difficulties are able to access the services of the RDVS clinic in the University Eye Clinic. We have worked on improving referral to this Service as well as hosting an external event where dyslexia tutors in the region could hear about the work and research being carried out by Jim Gilchrist and Caroline Wilson.

Working with the Equality Unit

We have worked closely with the Equality Unit to develop and promote the Disabled Staff Network, n-able. We meet regularly to raise the profile of disability issues on the general equality agenda and also around the development of the new Single Equality Strategy for the University.

Careers Internships

In 2010 we worked with CDS to pilot an internship scheme where disabled students were pro-actively targeted. This was reasonably successful and highlighted the need to do some more intensive work with this cohort in order to improve confidence and skill.

Hate Crime Conference

We contributed to a successful conference on Hate Crime in July 2011

Admissions Procedure

We continue to operate a system for early identification and contact with disabled applicants but recognise the need to improve practice.

Partnership working with other organisations and the local community

We are active members of the Bradford and District Disability Partnership Board and between 2009 and 2011 were involved in a city wide project that looked at collaborative working and in particular, whether there was any scope to share interpreting services.

1. What we do

Through a team of trained and qualified staff, we offer a range of interventions that aim to identify and minimise any barriers to access and success that disabled students might come across in the University. We do this by:

providing 1:1 support advice and guidance to individual disabled students;
offering a University wide screening and assessment process that identifies and supports students with Specific Learning Difficulties (SpLD);
working closely with a wide range of other University staff to support and develop practice and policies that promote inclusion and ensure the best possible outcome for disabled students.

Our approach focusses on helping individual students to access the support that they are entitled to, such as: funding (Disabled Student’s Allowance DSA) and adjustments to processes, procedures and services. At the same time, we work closely with other staff in the University, to look at how we can change and improve existing processes, procedures and services in a way that makes the University experience better not only for disabled students but for all students.

‘I received fantastic support and guidance from the disability team, my experience of the assessment process and DSA application was positive. I was kept well informed and although there were issues about timeframes for processes, I understood that this was due to external agencies. As a mature student this was the first time I have accessed such support and due to my disability being long standing and not accessing support before I was not aware of entitlement. The support I have received in my first year has been positive and I will continue to use the service. As stated before I feel my exam experience and provisions put in place for this have, I feel contributed to me passing my first year and going into my second year well informed and confident about my studies. Many thanks to the team and I have begun to ensure that fellow students who like me were not aware of the service and support it can offer know that the team / office is there’.

2. Another Year of Achievements

Growth in terms of numbers of students that we support

For the past 5 years there has been a steady growth in the numbers of students accessing the Service. The numbers below are extracted from the data prepared by the University for the Higher Education Statistical Agency (HESA) return, and demonstrate the incremental increase in student numbers over time. Figure 1. shows the total number of disabled students that have a disability code entered on their student record and the total number of disabled students that have registered with the Disability Service. Disability codes are entered onto the student record system SAINT at various stages in the student cycle. Many students self ‘declare’ on their UCAS, application forms or at registration. Other disabled students are recorded on the system when they register with the Service. Figure 2. breaks the numbers of students down into impairment categories.

Figure 1: Number of Disabled Students per Academic Year

/ 2006/07 / 2007/08 / 2008/09 / 2009/10 / 2010/11 /
The University / 864 / 959 / 1006 / 1086 / 1191
Registered with DS / 571 / 686 / 764 / 797 / 884
Not registered with DS / 293 / 273 / 242 / 289 / 307

Figure 2: Number of Disabled Students in 2010/11 by UCAS Category

Disability / Impairment (UCAS Categories) / Registered with DS /
A specific learning difficulty, e.g. dyslexia / 546
An unseen disability, e.g. diabetes, epilepsy, asthma / 48
Autistic Spectrum Disorder / 24
Blind/are partially sighted / 24
Deaf/have a hearing impairment / 18
Mental health difficulties / 62
Multiple disabilities / 43
Other Disability / 94
Wheelchair user/have mobility difficulties / 25
All / 884

As well as the numbers, qualitative feedback suggests that many of the students accessing our Service attribute much of their success at University to the support that they received.

‘I am a 3rd year Physical and Environmental Geography student, and have just completed the final exam of my course. Throughout my studies I have had difficulties with mental health issues, for which I have received the support of the Disability Service, Counselling Service and my department's personal tutor system.

The continual help and encouragement of these services over the past few years has allowed me to feel comfortable enough to study successfully. In particular, the support provided by James Moore (Mental Health Advisor), Margaret Errington (Support Tutor) and Dr. Jill Thompson (personal tutor) has been outstanding.