Share your views on support for disabled students in England
Published Date: 26 Apr 2024Martin McLean, our Senior Policy Advisor, explains how you can have your say on the system for funding support for deaf students in higher education.
The Government is asking for views on support for disabled higher education students in England. Currently ‘non-medical help’ for deaf students such as British Sign Language interpreters, electronic notetakers, Teachers of the Deaf and language support tutors are paid for through Disabled Students’ Allowances.
The Government wants to seek views on whether universities should organise and pay for this support in future, rather than students being responsible for the admin.
We believe that taking the pressure off deaf students to organise their own support could be a positive step. In recent years, some deaf students have found it challenging to get the support they need because of shortages of qualified professionals.
However, we believe there are risks if universities cover the cost of support for deaf students through their own budgets. If the funding universities get is not enough to cover their costs, there’s a risk that some universities might not put support in place for their deaf students. We’ll ask the Government to make sure that support for deaf students is safe, whichever university they go to.
Share your views
Anyone can take part in the call for evidence including students, professionals and parents. You’ll be asked what you think about the current system and what can be improved, as well as your views on the proposed changes.
