DEIP: Disability and Effective Inclusion Policies

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DEIP Disability and Effective Inclusion Policies

• Student and staff perspectives on experiences
  throughout the student lifecycle
• Ann-Marie Houghton - Lancaster University
• Pam Coare - Sussex University
• ? 01524 592907 ? a.houghton_at_lancaster.ac.uk

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DEIP Partnership

• Sussex University
• CERADUS Continuing Education Research and
  Development Unit Sussex
• Lancaster University
• REAP Researching Equity, Access and
  Participation, Department of Educational Research
• Funded by European Social Fund
• Objective 3 Research into Equal Opportunities
  in the Labour Market
• 1.3 Disability Discrimination

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Research Questions

• Key points
• Disability models
• Interpretation, application and development in HE
• Disabled students experiences in HE
• During lifecycle and future aspirations
• Graduates experiences of transition to work
• Relevance of HE experiences to transition
• Employers experiences of disabled graduates

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Data Collection
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HEI Case Study Interviews

• Students
• Sussex Mental Health Issues
• Lancaster Dyslexia
• Sample
• 10 15 students
• Approach
• Life History
• Opportunity to revisit issues

• Key Informants
• Disability Officer
• Careers Advisor
• Student Support
• Teaching and Learning
• Equal Opportunities
• Widening Participation

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Employer Case Studies

• Type of employer
• Balance between national employers versus SMEs
• Interviews with Key informants
• Personnel - Who else?
• Areas of consideration
• Recruitment
• Advertising and application process
• Appointment
• Induction processes
• Employment
• Policy and practice

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HEI Policy Documents

• Specific
• Disability Statement
• Disability Policy
• Handbook for Disability
• Access around campus
• Mental Health Policy
• Dyslexia Guidance

• Generic
• Widening Participation
• Equal Opportunities / Equality Diversity
• Careers Service
• Student Support
• Teaching and Learning

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Graduate Survey

• Personal Details
• Recent study experiences
• Explore issues reflected in policy documents
• Employment experiences
• Type of employment
• Nature of contract
• Duration
• Size of employer
• Awareness / use of disability support services
• Disclosure

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Student Life Cycle
Aspiration
Employment
Pre entry
On course
Admission
Entry 1st Term
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Models of Disability

• Medical
• Individual medical condition and attributes the
  problems to the individual and views disabled
  people as dependent, deserving of pity, or
  acclamation for overcoming their diversity
• Social
• Shifts the emphasis from individual to society,
  uses multiple definitions, focuses more on
  disability rights
• Carol Thomas Disability is a definitional
  riddle

Thomas, C (1999) Female forms Experiencing and
understanding disability, Buckingham, Open
University Press.
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Social Model thinking

• Disabled young people as active members of the
  setting

Challenging behaviour (time out)
Communicates
Needs to belong
Do things differently
Has a future
Has needs like all young people
Participates
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The Medical Model

• Disabled children are seen as passive receivers
  of services aimed at cure or management
• the impairment is the problem
• The child becomes invisible

Needs medical intervention
Difficult behaviour
Cannot speak
Cannot see, hear, stand, eat
Does not need an education
Additional / special needs
Cannot participate
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Disability Legislation

• Educational legislation
• school, further and higher educational
  experiences
• covers all phases of the student life cycle
• Employment legislation
• tackles existing discrimination
• contributes to the overall equality of
  opportunity
• Legislation that pertains to health, social
  services, transport, housing, and other aspects
  of daily life
• overcoming general living hurdles during higher
  education
• enable a suitable work life balance.

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Obstacles to HE Entry

• Physical
• Information
• Entrance to higher education
• Assumptions of normality
• Levels of awareness

Shevlin, M, Kenny, M and McNeela, E (2004)
'Participation in higher education for students
with disabilities An Irish perspective',
Disability and Society 19 (1) 15-30.
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Aspirations and Employment

• Deeply ingrained system of perspectives,
  experiences and pre-dispositions that family
  members share (p528)
• Decision-making
• Higher Education
• Employment
• Activities
• Summer Schools
• Families And Higher Education Decision-making

Reay, D (1998) 'Always knowing" and "never being
sure" Familial and institutional habituses and
Higher Education', Journal of Educational Policy
13 (4) 516-529.
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Identity Issues

• Only 4 out of 10 students saw their MHD as a
  disability - half of these only when they were
  unwell
• how do we market disability support services to
  students with MHD?
• For many students disability referred to
  physical impairments and people whose activities
  were severely restricted
• The variable and unpredictable nature of some MHD
  meant that MHD did not impact on identity in a
  constant way - flexible support systems were
  required
• 5 out of 8 students - who were diagnosed pre-HE
  did not disclose their disability on UCAS form
  due to fear of stigma, not understanding how they
  fitted categories or that system could /would help

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Disclosure

• Most participants had disclosed to staff or
  friends at uni and had had both positive and
  negative experiences
• For students in the system, the Mental Health
  Adviser disclosed on their behalf this worked
  well as avoided personal discomfort of disclosure
• Negative past experiences (e.g. insensitive,
  unhelpful, questioning legitimacy) created
  reluctance to disclose in the present and future
• Concern about stigma meant students avoided
  disclosure
• There was tension between wanting acknowledgement
  of MHD and needing support but not wanting
  negative attention and feeling exposed
• Students often did not fully understand the
  positive and negative consequences of disclosure

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Disclosure
I only disclose once I get to know them
(friends) really well ... I did originally tell
someone I had it after I got to know them a bit
and that person was a bit patronizing afterwards
so I do it only once a person has got to know me
and judged me on my character rather than my
disability. Mark

Ive known a lot of people who have been
clinically depressed and a lot of them are people
you dont want to be around ... I dont want to
be seen like that ... I dont want to be seen as
someone who is constantly up and own. Megan
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Disclosure
I didnt feel comfortable not disclosing, I
sometimes wondered if this was deceptive I
think that once you are somewhere or once they
meet you they can see its not a big deal, but
when its on paper thats different . Morgan
Ive always disclosed my dyslexia as soon as
possible. Desmond
If there is a box Ill tick it. Melanie
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Disability and Work

• OECD (2003) tendency to equate disability with an
  inability to work
• Manpower (2003) Working with Disabilities
• Accesses largely untapped resource
• Enhances employers reputation
• Pronounced rise in staff morale when disabled
  people integrated into workforce
• Flexible working arrangements are often only
  adaptation required

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Government Position

• Department of Work and Pensions (DWP)
• To increase the employment rate of people with
  disabilities taking account of the economic cycle
  and significantly reduce the difference between
  their employment rate and the overall rate. Work
  to improve the rights of disabled people and to
  remove barriers to their participation in society

?
http//www.dwp.gov.uk/lifeevent/discare/
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Transition to employment

• Students had a number of concerns about
  transition to employment
• discrimination
• moving away from support networks
• pressures of work environment
• Many students agreed that they would need
  understanding and support from employers
• Students were thinking positively and
  strategically about career options in relation to
  their disability
• Bridging the gap between university and
  workplaces through work placements and HE-to-work
  skills linkage could boost confidence in
  workplace

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Transition to work
A lot of people with Aspergers tend to end up
being quite discriminated against in the job
market and it is harder for them to get jobs even
with degrees and also to retain them so I will
probably have to make more effort than other
people to get better grades and get more
experience under my belt. Mark
I suppose its work scary because I dont know
how employers will react if you did have to
interrupt employment. Morgan
New challenges help me with the depression. All
the time Im trying to strive and do something
new provided I dont have a serious amount of
pressure put on top of me , I really enjoy it.
Melanie
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Graduate Survey results

• Careers advice
• Not always appropriate
• 22 specialist advice, only 50 of these found it
  useful

I found that the careers advisors had no idea
about how to place a disabled man of my age,
often offering me computers only very depressing
I found that the careers service rarely have
specific facilities, advisors or resources aimed
at students suffering or who have suffered from
mental illness. Mental illness should not
hinder job prospects the reality is that a lot
of discrimination exists, if nothing else it
results in career gaps which dont look good on
CVs.
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Graduate Survey results

• Low aspirations
• applying for jobs below their ability
• Externalizing disabling barriers including
  attitudinal factors

I cant necessarily choose anything that will be
too physical and also with the lack of previous
work experience as well, its almost as if you are
starting from the bottom. Its hard enough trying
to find any job without the additional burden of
being disabled.
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Graduate Survey results

• Disclosure
• Complex issue
• Lower in the workplace than in HE
• 92 disclosed to academic staff
• 87 disclosed to line manager
• 78 disclosed to colleagues
• 64 disclosed to senior managers

HE should prepare them for the real world not
the politically correct one. I wish someone had
told me NOT to disclose when applying for a job,
and to lie on the medical questionnaires.
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Graduate Survey results

• Disclosure
• Disclosure may damage, career prospects the way
  they are regarded by colleagues, and their
  ability to hold onto the job.

I would advise any student to NEVER EVER
DISCLOSE. The UK is not ready for doctoral
students with mental disabilities. There is zero
support, zero defense against discrimination, and
zero understanding of bright mentally disabled
people
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Conclusions

• Disability label
• Resistance to label, doesnt reflect wide
  spectrum
• Disability terminology
• Negative connotations, lack of consistency,
  strategic use
• Awareness
• Rights and entitlements, specialist services,
  discrimination workplace
• Disclosure
• Education and / or employment?, prior experience
  and attitudes, assumptions fluctuating issues
• Effectiveness of support systems
• Disclosure, sharing information, DSA

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Identity
At the moment I dont see myself as someone with
a disability. I think with depression it comes
and goes. There was a time when I wasnt working
and I was claiming incapacity benefit when I
might have said I considered myself disabled but
at the moment I really dont because although at
the moment Im not emotionally 100 and it does
stop me from doing some things, I feel a lot more
capable. Maria
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Conclusions

• Difference and disability
• Hierarchies, individual needs more complex
• Technology
• Panacea? Misplaced reliance on
• Social networks
• Awareness raising peers, HE and Employment
• Transition
• Relevance of HE experiences to transition, lack
  of awareness employment rights, low aspirations
• Remaining barriers ?