Experience of university life by disabled undergraduate students: the need to consider extra-curricular opportunities

Abstract

Many undergraduate students attending UK universities have a chronic illness or disability. Support for disabled students has increased in recent years through government funding and university disability services. This research examined experiences of disabled undergraduate students in academic and extra-curricular areas of student life and experience of university disability support. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 undergraduate students. Thematic analysis identified four main themes: symptoms impacting on university life, academic issues, extra-curricular activities and experience of university support. Extensive and varied challenges were experienced in relation to all areas of student life. Some disabled students felt well supported but others felt much more support was needed. Some students had limited or no engagement in extra-curricular activities. Some progress appears to have been made in the last twenty years in supporting disabled undergraduate students but more support is needed. Disability support should be extended beyond academic work to include extra-curricular activities.

Points of interest

• Disabled undergraduate students at university in the UK experience significant challenges which affect their academic work, social activities, sports and career development activities.

• This research found that some disabled undergraduate students felt well supported by university disability support but others felt much more support was needed.

• Some disabled undergraduate students do not take part in any social activities, sports or career development activities.

• University disability support for academic work should be developed so that all disabled students feel well supported.

• University disability support should be increased to include support for social activities, sports and career development activities.

Keywords:

• disability
• disabled
• chronic illness
• university
• undergraduate
• student experience

Introduction

Over 15% of UK undergraduate university students have a disability or chronic illness (Hubble and Bolton, 2021), with associated challenges across their student experience (e.g. Holloway 2001; Fuller at al., 2004; Kain et al., 2019). The disability most often reported is specific learning difficulty (34%), closely followed by mental health difficulties (28%), chronic illness or another disability (16%), social communication difficulties or autistic spectrum disorder (4%), with being blind, deaf or having mobility issues being least reported (combined 5%) (Hubble and Bolton, 2021).

Disabled students are provided with support from a range of sources. In the UK, higher education providers make reasonable adjustments to education provision and deliver disability services, and the government provides direct financial support to students via Disabled Student Allowances (DSAs). In 2016, DSAs were changed, with higher education providers given greater responsibility for supporting disabled students rather than students bearing this responsibility (Hubble and Bolton, 2021). Much of the published research on the disabled student experience at university was conducted over fifteen years ago within the UK (e.g. Holloway, 2001; Fuller et al., 2004), and before these 2016 changes. Recent research examining disabled undergraduate experiences and support was mainly conducted outside of the UK (e.g. Collins et al., 2019; García-González et al., 2021). Aspects of disability support systems highlighted for development have differed depending on the country where the research was conducted. For example, invisible disabilities in South Africa (de Beer et al., 2022), physical access for teaching spaces in China (Tam et al., 2022) and inclusive teaching in the UK and Spain (e.g. Jacobs et al., 2022; Moriña and Morgado, 2018). Therefore, it is crucial to consider national contexts of disability experience and support at university. The aim of this research is to provide an update on disabled undergraduate experiences and support across all areas of UK university life.

The disabled student experience at university

Early research from within the UK (e.g. Holloway, 2001; Fuller et al., 2004; Redpath et al., 2013) or Ireland (e.g. Hanafin et al., 2007), focused on the learning experience and physical access to buildings. Challenges with the learning experience included difficulty accessing course books (Holloway, 2001); within teaching sessions included difficulties note-taking, attending lectures and lack of user-friendly teaching materials (Fuller et al,. 2004); and with assessments included needing a scribe for written exams (Hanafin et al., 2007; Redpath et al., 2013), extra time or quiet spaces (Holloway, 2001). Challenges with physical access to university buildings included large distances between campus buildings (Redpath et al., 2013) and inaccessible toilets and teaching areas (Hanafin et al., 2007; Holloway, 2001).

Since 2016, when disability support in the UK changed, published research on the disabled student experience has been conducted across a wide range of countries but only two studies were found that were conducted within the UK. These studies examined learning experiences and highlighted disabled student concerns about perception of their disability; either by other students in the classroom after they have disclosed their disability (Osborne, 2019) or self-perceived feelings of inferiority compared to others for dyslexic students (Jacobs et al., 2022).

Outside of the UK, recent research identified extensive and varied challenges experienced by disabled students across all areas of university life. In Spain, barriers were identified across computer, bureaucratic, architectural, learning, personal and social areas (García-González et al., 2021), urban, transport, buildings, classroom environment and communication areas (Moriña and Morgado, 2018) and degree choice, with disability-related difficulties necessitating a course change for some students (Moriña et al., 2018). Research that focused on extra-curricular activities found adverse impacts on social engagement and physical activity. Disabled students often socialised less than their non-disabled peers - in the USA due to symptoms of their disability (Kain et al., 2019), and in South Africa due to separate accessible student accommodation (Mutanga, 2018). In Spain, disabled students had lower levels of physical activity than non-disabled students (Monforte et al., 2021) partly due to social ecological barriers to physical activity (Úbeda-Colomer et al., 2019). However, one study reported positive perceptions of disabled students of their teachers and peers and feelings of being well integrated into the university community (Spain: Polo Sánchez and Aparicio Puerta, 2021), a finding not noted in earlier research. Disabled students within the UK may also experience challenges in non-academic areas of university life, but this has not yet been examined.

Support for disabled students at university

Early research on experiences of disability support was mainly conducted in the UK and Ireland and focused on reasonable adjustments to usual methods of teaching, assessment and physical access. The type of support, and disabled students’ problems with this support, were identified. Support for learning included assistive technologies (Hanafin et al., 2007); general support included information about available support, course structure and assessment type (Redpath et al., 2013), and support for physical accessibility included student disabled parking spaces (Redpath et al., 2013). Problems experienced with support included: reduced independence (Redpath et al., 2013), problems with assistive technologies (Hanafin et al., 2007), and time needed for, and stress caused by, navigating this support (Holloway, 2001). Other issues prevented disabled students from accessing support altogether: attitudes of staff, students and the disabled student themselves (Fuller et al., 2004; Hanafin et al., 2007; Holloway, 2001), and lack of awareness of disability support provisions (Redpath et al., 2013). The success of reasonable adjustments in supporting disabled students was linked to well-trained academic staff who were generally sympathetic and supportive (Hanafin et al., 2007; Holloway, 2001), and the importance of ongoing monitoring and evaluation to co-ordinate and oversee implementation of disability support policies (Holloway, 2001).

More recent research from both within and outside of the UK continues to find negative experiences of disability support. Some issues result from accessing support via reasonable adjustments and the necessary disclosure of disability (cf. Fuller et al., 2004). Students can find professors to be judgemental and dismissive (USA: Kain et al., 2019) and may be treated differently by others (Australia: Edwards et al., 2022; Grimes et al., 2020; UK: Osborne, 2019). Anticipated and internalised stigmas can cause additional difficulties with an expectation of being treated as less academically able and reduced self-esteem alongside a self-perception that asking for adjustments was cheating (Australia: Grimes et al., 2020; UK: Osborne, 2019). As in earlier research (e.g. Fuller et al., 2004), some students may deliberately not request disability support to avoid these negative effects and avoid emphasising their disability within their own self-identity or with others (Australia: Collins et al., 2019). Issues with assistive technology were found in earlier research (e.g. Hanafin et al., 2007) and again more recently, with dyslexic students finding that assistive technology provided by universities does not always meet their learning needs (Jacobs et al., 2022).

Inclusive or universal design for learning (such as recorded lectures) and physical spaces (such as wheelchair accessible buildings) is a more recent introduction across university campuses and thus only considered in more recent research (e.g. UK: Williams et al., 2019; Australia: Collins et al., 2019). Identified benefits of universal design for learning include elimination of disability disclosure, provision of support for those who are undiagnosed and ineligible for disability support services (USA: Bradshaw, 2020) and additional support for non-disabled students who can face similar barriers to learning as disabled students (Spain: Camacho et al., 2017). There are examples of comprehensive support in some institutions, but lower levels of support in others (UK: Williams et al., 2019; USA: Campanile et al., 2022). Several researchers have concluded that teaching institutions need to make greater efforts to create effective inclusive learning environments and institutions (UK: Jacobs et al., 2022; Spain: Moriña and Morgado, 2018).

The need for training for academics in disability support was identified in earlier research (Holloway, 2001) and continues to be an issue in relation to support via reasonable adjustments and inclusive teaching from the perspectives of disabled students (UK: Osborne, 2019; Spain: Polo Sánchez and Aparicio Puerta, 2021), and academic staff identified by disabled students as providing good support (Spain: Aguirre et al., 2021). Disabled students identified key training elements, such as participatory teaching methodologies using new technology; awareness training of the needs of disabled students; and the need for a positive and empathetic attitude (Spain: Camacho et al., 2017). Academics who engaged in training had increased self-efficacy that led to more positive perceptions of, and willingness to accommodate, disabled students (USA: Shine and Stefanou, 2022).

Progress in university disability support

Disabled students at university, across a range of countries, continue to experience extensive challenges more than twenty years after these were first identified, despite the provision of disability support services. However, the majority of recent research in this area has been conducted outside of the UK and there is no clear update on recent disabled student experience in the UK in the context of the 2016 changes to disability support provision and the introduction of inclusive design for learning. In addition, research about disability support has not considered areas of disabled student life beyond teaching and learning, despite difficulties in these areas being identified in some countries (e.g. Kain et al., 2019; Monforte et al., 2021; Mutanga, 2018), but not yet examined within the UK. Extra-curricular activities, such as social life, societies, sports, volunteering and career development, are crucial to the university experience (King et al., 2021) and may provide a source of strength for disabled students in addition to the overcoming of challenges through other support (e.g. Moriña and Biagiotti, 2022). Academic success factors identified by disabled students have included family and peers, as well as personal factors such as self-advocacy and self-determination (Spain: Moriña and Biagiotti, 2022), all of which may be strengthened through extra-curricular activities.

The impact of university disability support on disabled students has been mixed. Adverse impacts on psychological outcomes have been found with navigation of support continuing to lead to stress for disabled students in the USA (Safer et al., 2020), as in earlier research in the UK (Holloway, 2001). However, lower university-related anxieties were found for students using disability support in New Zealand (Murray and Sotardi, 2022). Poorer academic outcomes were found for disabled students in Canada, who used reasonable accommodations compared to those who did not, or non-disabled students, even when matched on admission grades, gender and course (Parsons et al., 2021). Conversely, a positive academic impact of disability support was found in New Zealand and the USA (Murray and Sotardi, 2022; Safer et al., 2020). Within the UK, disabled students tended to have lower degree results and be more likely to drop-out of their course (Hubble and Bolton, 2021). Taken together, these findings suggest provision of an effective support system for disabled students is still a work in progress in many countries, including in the UK.

Research aims

The aims of this research are:

• to explore the experiences of UK disabled undergraduate students of challenges and barriers they face across all aspects of university life (academic and extra-curricular)

• to explore disabled undergraduate students experience of university disability support across all aspects of university life (academic and extra-curricular)

• to consider whether progress has been made in the last twenty years in supporting disabled undergraduates at university in the UK

Method

Participants and design

Twenty undergraduate students (15 females (1 gender-fluid), 5 males) from an English university (years 1 to 4) were interviewed during Autumn 2019. Participants were 18 to 59 years old (average 24.65 years, SD 11.19). Participants reported issues under a number of categories: mental health (4 students), cognitive impairments (1 student), physical impairments (4 students), cognitive and physical impairments (2 students) and a combination of mental, cognitive and physical impairments (9 students). Symptoms experienced were constant (12 students) or fluctuating (8 students). Duration of disability varied between 1.5 years and 20 years (average 9.93 years, SD 6.86). Health conditions and disabilities included chronic pain, migraines, bipolar disorder, psoriasis, colitis, dyslexia, dyspraxia, Ehlers Danlos syndrome, deafness, polycystic ovary syndrome, dyscalculia, chronic fatigue syndrome, autoimmune disorder, epilepsy, arthritis, fibromyalgia, depression and anxiety.

Materials and procedure

Participants were recruited via one advertisement email sent to undergraduate students via School Administrators asking for students with chronic illness or disability to volunteer. Students responded firstly by answering two short questions to establish eligibility for the project and type of chronic illness/severity to allow for quota sampling. 20 participants responded and all were interviewed. The study was given a favourable ethical opinion by the School of Psychology Research Ethics Committee at the University of Lincoln.

Interviews took place in meeting rooms on university campus and were recorded, and then transcribed by a private service. The interview schedule was constructed by SYC, an academic at the university, and AS, an undergraduate student at the university who worked as a casual research assistant on this project. AS conducted all interviews. A semi-structured style of interview schedule was used to ask participants about challenges/barriers they experience in different areas of their university life. Participants were asked demographic questions about their gender, age and nature of their disability. They were asked the following questions about their academic work, extra-curricular activities, social life and career development: does their condition present any barriers in this area, is there appropriate support available at the university to overcome these barriers, is there any additional support not currently available at the university that would help them overcome these barriers? In addition they were asked, for academic work: about meeting academic deadlines and maintaining consistent attendance; for extra-curricular activities and societies: if they are able to participate in these to the extent they wish; for social life: if they are able to maintain an active social life; for career development opportunities: if they can utilise these services to the extent they wish. Finally, they were asked if there was anything else we should consider. Interviews lasted between 5 and 14 minutes. Participants were given a £10 Amazon voucher as an inconvenience compensation.

Analysis

Thematic analysis (Braun and Clarke, 2013) was conducted using NVivo software. HT and SYC read the transcripts and discussed an overview of the data. HT created initial codes on five transcripts, discussed with SYC, and coded the remainder of the transcripts. SYC reviewed the codes, combined them into four themes and reviewed the codes again, adding some additional codes.

Results

Semi-structured interviews conducted with disabled undergraduate students revealed a variety of experiences of university life and support. Four main themes were identified: symptoms impacting on university life, academic issues, extra-curricular activities and experience of support from the university (see Figure 1 for thematic map).

Figure 1. Thematic map illustrating disabled undergraduate student experiences of university life.

Theme 1: symptoms impacting on university life

Participants described a range of symptoms that impacted on their university life, including anxiety and stress, pain, movement, hearing difficulties, tiredness and fatigue, unpredictability of symptoms, difficulties thinking and issues affecting use of toilet facilities. These symptoms affected students’ academic work, movement around the university campus and participation in on- and off-campus social activities, sometimes making the activities impossible, or at other times exacerbating symptoms.

Difficulties thinking could occur suddenly and during class activities with associated concerns about the attitudes of others present.

I get very, very tired, sometimes I get fibro-fog where my mind just goes blank and it looks like I’m not paying attention in class, but I am paying attention, it’s just I’m, kind of, a bit glazed over. [Ppt 024]

Moving around campus at university can be dangerous for some students who may not always have someone close by to help them in the way they need.

A bit scared that I’m just going to randomly fall in the street, because at my secondary school, they would come and get me in a wheelchair, but obviously that was limited to about two buildings, whereas the university is a lot more spread out, so that’s a bit of an issue. [Ppt 020]

Participating in on-campus social events can be very difficult for students with mobility issues.

Yes, I went to Quack [the on campus social night] for example, and was unable to use the lift due to it being out of hours and so had to try and manage stairs. And there was no seating, so I had to lean against a barrier. [Ppt 022]

Theme 2: academic issues

Issues around academic work were discussed in relation to teaching, in particular attendance, lectures, independent study and deadlines. Several participants discussed how well they coped with academic work with excellent attendance and meeting of deadlines.

So far, yeah, I have. I always…I sort of predict that I’m going to get myself into a state, so I start them the second I get them, and it does take me a really long time to do them sometimes, but I do get them done, I think. [Ppt 003]

Currently good on the medication, obviously picking up all of the bugs and bits and pieces, but I think I’ve got the best attendance I’ve ever had at uni so far this year, I’ve missed one lecture, which is… [Ppt 019]

Other participants reported difficulties focusing on academic work due to symptoms, and choosing to sacrifice attendance at teaching sessions to save energy for completing assignments.

It’s hard getting out of bed sometimes, let alone putting pen to paper and thinking and getting my brain to go around the pain. [Ppt 001]

Yeah, I definitely think so, obviously if you’re dealing with chronic pain or anything like that, then there’s…just the amount of energy it takes to kind of be doing any assignments or any extra work on top of, like, physically having to get into university, I felt like I was having to make a choice between either being present to learn everything or be able to do the assignments and then struggling to do the assignments because I wasn’t there, so I didn’t know what was going on. [Ppt 019]

There can be problems for participants in engaging with teaching when they do attend sessions, one student highlighted issues of lecturers not using special equipment that helps the student hear the lecture, which meant they could not hear what was being taught.

Oh, probably because, obviously, I can’t tell the difference between, like, background noise and noise because of my hearing, so a lot of time when lecturers are speaking and other people in the lecture speak… Because I have this special hearing equipment, but lecturers forget to wear theirs, so it, kind of, sucks because then I can’t hear the lecturer and I’m, like… [Ppt 011]

Theme 3: issues with extra-curricular activities

Participants reported both good experiences and barriers to engaging with extra-curricular activities at university. Good experiences included friendships, societies and sports. Barriers were experienced in accessing the university careers service, social activities, societies and sports. Several participants mentioned the importance of friendships, both generally in life and specifically with helping them cope with disability related issues.

Just supportive friends are good [Ppt 004]

I’ve made a lot of friends through skiing and rock climbing. And being a computer science student, I spend a lot of time on the computer and I have a lot of friends that I interact with online. So, generally, I’ve, you know, if I’ve ever had a problem, I’ve always had someone to talk to, and stuff like that. So, yeah, I’d say yes. [Ppt 006]

Conversely, there are participants who struggled to socialise or join university societies due to symptoms or because they needed to focus their efforts on other priorities.

Yes, because if I’m in a lot of pain, I don’t feel like going out, I’m constantly drained, so I don’t really want to bring the energy down, and sometimes I can’t bring myself to actually go out because I’m in a lot of pain, so… [Ppt 002]

I’d love to take part in them, but trying to see my friends and family, do work and then having enough time to recuperate from the days and studying, I don’t have time for them, which is a shame, because there are some, I’d really love to join [Ppt 024]

Accessing the careers service was discussed, and particular issues related to feelings and expectations about the future, which meant they did not want to engage in planning for the future.

Sometimes when you just don’t feel like you can do anything, thinking about the future is really hard, so you don’t want to go to those sort of meetings and talk about everything when everything just seems so bloody bleak for you [Ppt 001]

Theme 4: experience of support from the university

Participants discussed their experiences of support from the university in relation to academic work, careers, sports, social activities and societies. Further subthemes were identified of: occasions when the support works well, when they are unaware of the support available and when more support is needed. Several participants reported feeling very well supported by what was on offer by the university.

they’ve got all these kinds of support networks that I have used in the past, and I think they work very well, and I’m very pleased with the amount of care that the university gives me [Ppt 006]

[Do you feel your condition presents any barriers towards maintaining an active social life at university?] Sometimes, but, for me it’s been alright because I went to the summer school. [Ppt 014]

I think with the careers service, they’ve got it pretty spot on, to be honest. [Ppt 004]

There were also several participants who reported being unaware of support that is available in relation to academic work, social activities and the careers service.

Support for academic work: ‘I don’t know, because I don’t know, yeah, I don’t know what’s there’. [Ppt 012]

Support for social activities: ‘I haven’t encountered anything’. [Ppt 020]

Support for careers services: ‘I don’t know what is available as it stands at the minute’. [Ppt 021]

Subtheme 4.1 experience of support from the university: more support needed

There was a lot of discussion from participants concerning instances when they felt more support was needed. This included: problems they felt could not be helped by others; areas where they needed extra support but did not know what and areas where they needed extra support but did not know what was available. Some participants discussed problems they experienced as a result of their disability or chronic illness for which they felt an individual responsibility, and that they did not think could be helped by others in any way.

‘I feel as though the barriers that I have to overcome are within myself…’ [Ppt 001]

‘You can either ski or you can’t ski, so it’s, kind of, a black and white situation. I can either participate when I’m healthy or I cannot participate when I’m unwell, and I don’t think there’s really any way to counteract that’. [Ppt 006]

Societies: ‘I have better days and worse days, but because they’re always there, it’s feeling well enough to go out to them, and that’s not their fault, that’s me. So, I don’t think so, no’. [Ppt 024]

Societies: ‘I presume there would be, but I’ve not really looked into it, because when they’ve asked me, I’ve just been too tired. So, I’ve not thought, ‘Right, I’m going to go to Quack [student on campus social night]. Is this available? Is there somewhere for me to sit?’ and things like that’. [Ppt 024]

There were many areas that students identified within this theme as areas for additional support. These were collated as part of an additional subtheme and are discussed below.

Subtheme 4.1.1 identified areas for additional support

Students identified areas for additional support within careers, societies, academic issues, social activities and other areas. In relation to careers, discussions were about having disability-specific advice, online and flexible support and issues relating to anxiety and stress.

I think maybe having a specialised area for people with pain disorders or disabilities or chronic illness. … and knowing how it impacts people and can suggest careers that would be suitable for people with those ailments. [Ppt 001]

It would be better if things were more able to be done, like, via email and things instead of having to go to places. And they were time-limited, because I can’t do everything in one day kind of thing. [Ppt 009]

Okay, I think there could definitely be like a slightly easier portal to use when making appointments but I did kind of just email her and say can I set up an appointment here and she was like yeah, you can do that so I set up one like that so I definitely think a more accessible portal could be good but beyond that I think it’s pretty good. [Ppt 007]

Yeah, like, if they talked more to us and because I don’t know anything, like, really, except for, like, the odd email, that’s it. So, I just wouldn’t go because I’m, like, too stressed. [Ppt 011]

In relation to societies, students discussed timing of activities, encouragement, general helpfulness and understanding of medical conditions.

I feel like societies like that, they should be, like, ‘Here’s a list of things if you ever need help with anything, you can talk to us or…’ just stuff like that. [Ppt 012]

Only I think they could be a bit more, like, encouraging because, like, last year, I just, kind of, stayed in my room and I didn’t really feel like anyone was, like, pushing me to do anything. [Ppt 011]

Probably if they had, like, an understanding of what the condition is and then finding ways around it and, like, different times that they could put the activities on, because most of them are later at night. [Ppt 002]

In relation to Academic issues, students discussed lecture recordings, attendance and lateness, timing of events, self-advocacy and resources.

Things like the Panopto, the lecture recordings, that…if that was mandatory for all lecturers, that would be brilliant [Ppt 009]

Maybe they would allow me not to have two lectures side by side for the first few weeks while I got used to where everything is – I don’t know. [Ppt 005]

I’d quite like a room, you know, such as this kind of thing, but blacked off, where you can just go and settle yourself for 10 minutes and go about your life. [Ppt 021]

If you apply for illness five days and under, if you do it too often during the week, they’ll cut it off and say you can’t do that anymore. And that is bad because I don’t know whether or not I can come in every day, so I can’t say five days and over kind of thing, so if that was not limited, then that would be better, that kind of thing. Better understanding for attendance protocol for people with disabilities. [Ppt 009]

It is very difficult for me to walk in and say in front of 40 to–50 other people getting ready for an exam that I have this problem [Ppt 005]

In relation to social activities, students discussed mobility in relation to lifts, making friends and peer support.

Yes, I went to Quack [the student on-campus night club] for example, and was unable to use the lift due to it being out of hours and so had to try and manage stairs. And there was no seats, so I had to lean against a barrier. [Ppt 022]

I have friends in [student campus accommodation], I know they don’t have any lift access in most of the blocks and stuff like that, it would make it difficult if, say I had a friend that lived on the fifth floor, I could not get up that flight of stairs to get to their apartment. [Ppt 023]

I find it quite difficult to, kind of, articulate my condition to people, especially because it’s so rare, I feel like I’m quite isolated. I don’t know a single person at university that also has my condition, and if there was a way for me to actually find someone that also knew how I was suffering, I think that would help a lot, especially when you get ill. [Ppt 006]

Additional areas for support were identified that covered a diverse number of issues and were grouped into ‘other areas’. These included understanding from others, settling into university, medical concerns, monitoring deterioration and advertising available support.

I would just say that the most important thing is kind of a level of understanding if I can’t go and do something, it’s, you know, a lot of lecturers take the view that it’s me being difficult, but I think the condition can be a bit misunderstood. [Ppt 004]

When it’s freshers’ week, for example, that was hell trying to get, you know, a blood test. It would be three weeks in advance just because of, you know, the volume of students. So, that’s probably the area that I’d say, you know, you can improve the most. [Ppt 006]

I think, like, when moving in, because obviously the first week is a bit daunting. The…because I had a little package when I moved in, they could be, like, again, like, ‘This is student wellbeing who can help, here’s the numbers you can call’, and stuff, and…because when I joined, obviously you do the doctors form, but I haven’t been told at all, like, where the doctors are or the numbers at all or anything like that. So I don’t know where to go really [Ppt 012]

Discussion

Interviews with disabled undergraduate students revealed an impact of symptoms on all areas of university life, across academic work and extra-curricular activities. Impact on academic work ranged from engaging and coping well to complete non-engagement during teaching or lack of attendance. Impact on extra-curricular activities was across all areas of social activities, societies, sports and career development, with good experiences highlighted by some students. Experiences of support were varied. Some students had positive experiences of support, particularly in relation to academic work, whilst others lacked awareness of available support or identified additional areas for support. Numerous specific suggestions for extra support for academic work illustrated the extent of remaining issues despite disability support in this area and the lack of support for extra-curricular activities. The need for further training of academics in providing disability support was identified and some disabled students had a sense of individual responsibility for their difficulties when available support did not provide a solution. Some progress appears to have been made in the last twenty years in supporting disabled undergraduate students as some disabled students feel well supported but others sacrifice attendance at teaching and engagement in extra-curricular activities to achieve academic success, or feel much more support is needed.

Disabled students experienced challenges affecting academic work as in early research, but the nature of the challenges differed. Early research from the UK found issues relating to teaching materials and physical access to teaching spaces on campus (e.g. Holloway, 2001; Fuller et al., 2004), whereas this research found issues around attendance and lack of anticipated support. Issues with physical access around campus related to social activities, rather than teaching. Disabled students experienced challenges across extra-curricular activities, including socialising and physical activity as in recent research from Spain and the USA (e.g. Kain et al., 2019; Monforte et al., 2021), but identified here for the first time in the UK. Barriers to engaging with student-led university societies and career development activities were also identified for the first time in this research.

Disabled student experience of support at university ranged from those who felt well supported, as in recent research in Spain (e.g. Polo Sánchez and Aparicio Puerta, 2021) but not reported in earlier research (cf. Holloway, 2001), to those who felt much more support was needed, as in research from the UK (e.g. Fuller et al., 2004; Osborne, 2019; Jacobs et al., 2022) and other countries (e.g. Campanile et al., 2022; Moriña and Morgado, 2018). Negative attitudes from others after disclosing disability was found in this research, as in earlier and more recent research (e.g. Hanafin et al., 2007; Kain et al., 2019). When support offered by the university was not effective this reduced the likelihood of self-advocacy in the future and led to a sense of individual responsibility for unresolved difficulties. Previous research found a disabled student’s self-identity of disability can affect registering for disability support (Collins et al., 2019; Grimes et al., 2020). This new finding of individual responsibility for disability-related difficulties is a new finding in the context of the undergraduate disabled student experience. This may reflect the changed student experience of support now that many options are offered to disabled students through reasonable adjustments and inclusive teaching. However it may lead them to feel that if their problems remain unresolved, that the issue lies with them, rather than that the support is inadequate for their needs. A lack of university disability support for social activities, societies and sports was identified for the first time in this research. There was some support available for career development activities, although this did not meet the needs of some disabled students.

The need for further training in disability support for academics and staff was apparent in this research in relation to assistive technologies, attendance monitoring and attitudes of academics. This need for more training was previously identified in early research in the UK (e.g. Holloway, 2001), as well as recent research from the UK and other countries (e.g. Osborne, 2019; Polo Sánchez and Aparicio Puerta, 2021; Shine and Stefanou, 2022).

Two potential limitations from the research interview method may have affected data collection. Firstly, some participants may have self-censored due to concerns about confidentiality and seeming ungrateful for university support. Future research could include an additional anonymised data collection point for participants to add anything they avoided mentioning at interview. Secondly, research interviews require participants to think on their feet and this may have been difficult for those with complex disability issues or cognitive difficulties. For example, several students identified the need for further university support but struggled to think what that should be. Future research could use group-based data collection techniques to facilitate idea generation and/or a visual output, such as post-it notes.

Practical implications from this research relate to the scope of university disability support and evaluation of these support services. Firstly, universities should expand disability support beyond teaching and learning, to include extra-curricular activities such as social activities, societies, sports and career development. Many disabled students in this research had limited or no involvement in these extra-curricular activities. Extra-curricular activities are an important part of university life (King et al., 2021) and these should be included in disability support provision. Secondly, an evaluation of the efficacy of disability support services should be included in regular university processes. The extent of issues that disabled students experienced across all areas of university life in this research highlights that current disability support services could be more effective. The importance of effective university systems to monitor and evaluate the efficacy of disability services was first highlighted over twenty years ago (Holloway, 2001), but remains an issue and should be addressed. Training for academic staff should be included in this evaluation to help inform and develop training, which is a crucial element in providing effective support for disabled students, both through reasonable adjustments and inclusive learning.

Future research could move beyond cataloguing the challenges and barriers experienced towards investigating the solutions and problem-solving techniques which disabled students use in everyday life and at university. A lack of awareness or desire to access disability support provision by disabled students is a recurrent finding in research and should be investigated in relation to issues of self-disclosure of disability. This may uncover other ways to engage with disabled students beyond assuming the problem is a lack of advertising of services. This research focused on the experiences of undergraduate students, but future research should investigate experiences of postgraduate students who have different teaching and research programmes to undergraduates.

In conclusion, undergraduate disabled students experienced a diverse set of challenges across academic and extra-curricular areas of university life. Some students felt well-supported by university disability support but many others need additional support across all areas of university life, including academic and extra-curricular areas. Some progress has been made in the last twenty years in the UK in supporting disabled students in their academic work, but extensive challenges remain. Support for extra-curricular activities should be added into university disability support provision.

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the students who participated in the interviews for this study and reviewers for providing helpful and constructive comments on an earlier draft of this article.

Disclosure statement

The authors report there are no competing interests to declare.