Fair play for students with disability

Abstract

Universities provide a competitive environment that in some ways resembles the sporting field. But unlike the arrangements made for disabled athletes, for whom separated fields of competition are available, disabled students are required to enter into open competition with non‐disabled students. To make this open competition fair, students with disability are provided with a range of accommodations to compensate. The availability of these compensatory measures gives rise to some difficult decision making for university administrators. These difficulties are mostly concerned with two questions of fairness: who is eligible for the accommodation, and how much accommodation is appropriate? Students with disability who are eligible for accommodation should still be encouraged to minimise their reliance on this type of assistance in order to ensure they properly develop attributes of independent learning.

Notes

* Correspondence: Greg Hampton, Student Services, University of Wollongong, Northfields Avenue, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia; email: [email protected]

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Greg Hampton *

* Correspondence: Greg Hampton, Student Services, University of Wollongong, Northfields Avenue, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia; email: [email protected]