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“Universities must think ahead about the barriers their institutions place in the way of people with a range of disabilities.”
Not long ago, I visited some Oxford University students who complained of discrimination by their colleges. The stereotype of old universities is the supposed fine line between genius and madness. Whatever can be said about inequality of opportunity in getting a place at Oxford, there is a very large number of excellent, high-achieving students there.
But a new campaign in the students’ union recognises the growing awareness of students affected by mental illness and their treatment by the colleges. The charity Mind tells us that one in four people in the UK will experience a mental health problem each year but, of Oxford’s 11,703 undergraduates, fewer than nine per cent stated that they had a disability of any kind, let alone mental health difficulties (University of Oxford student statistics, 2014).
It is not surprising that the pressures on students will affect their mental health. In most cases, it will not disrupt their studies unduly – but what happens when it does?
Higher education institutions have a duty to comply with the Equality Act 2010: they must not discriminate on grounds of the protected characteristics, which include disability. Once diagnosed, most mental health issues will come within the definition of disability in EA 2010 s6 because the nature of them is that they are long-term and with a tendency to recur.
The cornerstone of the EA 2010 is the duty to make reasonable adjustments. This can mean changes to practices and procedures and providing extra help (auxiliary services) where needed, not just physical alterations to buildings. The duty is owed to disabled students in general, not just individual students. This is important because it means universities must think ahead about the barriers their institutions place in the way of people with a range of disabilities. As official guidance from the Equality and Human Rights Commission (Equality Act 2010 technical guidance on further and higher education, 2015 edn) says (paras 7.19–7.20):
… the duty is anticipatory in the sense that it requires consideration of, and action in relation to, barriers that impede all disabled people prior to an individual disabled student seeking to access education or the benefits, facilities and services offered to students …
Education providers should therefore not wait until a disabled person approaches them … They should anticipate the requirements of disabled students and the adjustments that may have to be made for them.
Many universities now assess disabled students as a matter of course to find out what they need and how it will be provided. This frequently links in with applications for disabled students’ allowance, which is financial help available through Student Finance England. Assessing a student for DSA does not, however, absolve a university of its own duties towards disabled students.
The experiences reported by a number of Oxford students are at odds with a structured approach. Sophie Spector made the headlines when she described being forced out by Balliol College (Camilla Turner and Luke Mintz, ‘Oxford forced me out due to disabilities, student claims’, Daily Telegraph, 5 June 2015). Since then, other students have come forward about what they see as a lack of support or a structured approach to dealing with needs arising from anxiety or depression. They report being pushed to a position where they see the only option as taking time out of studies altogether. At that point, they say, the colleges cut them off entirely, with many taking a penal approach of banning them from facilities. For some, this removal of informal support systems can damage their recovery further.
Oxford is an elite university, an expression that carries both good and bad connotations. However, the aspect of elitism that excludes those brilliant minds by its own failures to accommodate them is increasingly out of step with the law. ■