Disability in higher education – do reasonable adjustments contribute to an inclusive curriculum?

ABSTRACT

The study focuses on the importance of inclusive curriculum design in Higher Education (HE) and the impact of reasonable adjustments in ensuring inclusive practices. Although making reasonable adjustments attempts to ensure inclusivity, the data gathered suggests that some staff struggle to accommodate disabled students, due to a lack of knowledge, training and awareness of disability. The findings are drawn from qualitative data collected from five participants by way of in-depth interviews. The study explored the perceptions of staff members in a Law School, and attempts to offer practical recommendations to ensure HE institutions adopt inclusive practices in their curriculum design. The findings suggest that having an inclusive curriculum can in some cases minimise or obviate the need to make reasonable adjustments. It is suggested that HE institutions should now switch their focus to the social model of disability which focuses on attitudes, so as to transform the perception of staff towards disabled students. Additionally, practical solutions are provided in an attempt to recognise that disabled students may need to be treated differently, in order to achieve their full potential, which ultimately ensures inclusion within the curriculum.

KEYWORDS:

• Inclusive education
• curriculum
• disability
• reasonable adjustments
• higher education

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Professor Lisa Webley, Sylvie Bacquet, Jennifer Bright and Dr Pauline Armsby who commented on drafts of this article, as well as Leroy Bunbury for his suggestions on a later draft.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Stephen Bunbury LLB (Hons) LLM (in Employment Law) MA (in Higher Education) PgDip Pg Cert SFHEA is senior lecturer in law at the University of Westminster. Stephen's research interests lie in disability discrimination, higher education, employment law and medical law. He has published in the area of employment law, discrimination law and legal skills.

Stephen has been the Disability Tutor/Coordinator for Westminster Law School, which involved overseeing disabled students and continues to provide advice to staff and students on disability matters. He has also attended various panels and committees in the University in which complicated disability issues were considered. Stephen is now currently the Quality Lead for Westminster Law School which involves leading on the implementation and dissemination of quality policies within the School to enhance the quality of the Faculty's teaching activities, and the students’ learning experience.