Students living with a disability are falling behind at university due to lack of accessible, flexible study options

Students with disability across Australia are calling for higher education institutions to offer fairer access to learning services.

Transcript

00:00 Sophie Barlow is studying to become a psychologist, but her journey has been rough.

00:07 When I showed up for the first week, I couldn't access literally two out of three of my classes.

00:13 For most of the semester, this bridge to her tutorials has been blocked.

00:18 I just want to be a student. I just want to show up, go to my classes.

00:23 Melbourne student Adam Whitehead knows the feeling all too well.

00:27 He has low vision and was told his course content would be formatted so a computer could read it out loud.

00:35 But it often didn't happen on time or I would need readings outside the basic ones.

00:43 Leaving him no choice but to drop out of some classes.

00:46 You just get more and more frustrated, get further and further behind with classes.

00:51 Under the Disability Discrimination Act, universities are required to provide fair access to all students.

00:58 But there are concerns not all are stepping up adequately.

01:02 Universities have been too slow to address access needs, but it is something that's improving.

01:09 There's such a huge, huge amount of issues and parallel experiences that people with disabilities are experiencing at university.

01:21 For students like Sophie, it's more than just a degree that's at stake.

01:25 Without higher education, my employability prospects are limited.

01:30 - I'm excited.

01:30 [BLANK_AUDIO]