'I've Been Made Homeless Twice' – How Universities Let Disabled People Down

In the UK, it's been illegal to discriminate against disabled people since 1995. Mind you, that doesn't mean everyone follows the rules: nearly 30 years on, discrimination against disabled students at British universities is still more common than you'd think.

A study conducted in 2018 by Scope, the UK's leading disability rights charity, found that one in three disabled people feel there's disability prejudice – and, anecdotally, this extends to how people with disabilities are treated by their universities. Sure, it's easy for universities to give a good impression by having all the necessary physical access requirements, such as ramps, but discrimination is often taking place in an indirect way, on an academic and pastoral level.

I decided three university students to share their stories.

"I'm studying Italian at Oxbridge. I've got so many different disabilities – I'm diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, and I use a wheelchair to get about most of the time. I’m also diagnosed with anxiety, depression and OCD, so I'm dealing with both mental and physical problems simultaneously. This means I sleep an awful lot, and need wheelchair-accessible classrooms, accommodation, everything.

"I'm a part-time student because of my disability, which is where a lot of the discrimination began. The senior tutor in my college initially refused to submit my application to go part time because he was like, 'Oh, she doesn't look sick.' I was just using a walking stick at this point – and when I came back in a wheelchair he was like, 'Oh shit, maybe she is sick.' So it literally took me losing the ability to walk for them to actually do anything.

"Last term, there was an incident where I missed an exam because I was taken to hospital. First, I was accused of injuring myself to get out of the exam. When I sent the university my admission report from the hospital I was notified to say that, in these circumstances, the university would give me an automatic pass, but instead they gave me a zero. Trying to appeal that was incredibly difficult.

"I've also been heavily discriminated against when it comes to finding accommodation. My situation at home is very complicated, and basically because of my disabilities I am physically unable to be there in the holidays. I applied to live full time in my college – which lots of students already do – but the university rejected my application as a 'health and safety risk'. Essentially, my university has made me homeless twice.

"They are also currently refusing me access to a programme called Lecture Catcher that allows you to watch lectures back. This is crucial for me because my chronic fatigue means I often can't get out of bed for morning lectures, so I have to frantically message round my friends to see who can send me their notes. They've also refused to allow me to have extended library loans, so I'm having to pay at least £5 per week on library fines."

"I have cerebral palsy – a condition that affects my whole body, but most significantly my legs, and I have to use sticks to walk. I finished my BA last month and decided to stay on at the same university to do an MA in Counselling and Psychotherapy.

"I'd been preparing for an interview for the course for weeks. However, the course leader who interviewed me didn't ask one question about myself or my knowledge of the subject. Instead, she bombarded me for over 30 minutes with completely inappropriate questions about reasonable adjustments and how I would manage on the course with my disability – things like, 'How would you cope in lectures?' – even though I'd just got a First in my degree and had never struggled with lectures.

"I explained that I would use a dictaphone to record therapy sessions instead of writing client notes, as I struggle to write quickly, but she automatically said this would breach confidentiality and so wouldn't be possible (I'd like to note that this is a fully accredited method that many therapists now use out of preference). It felt as though they were putting up barrier after barrier in front of me, and instead of helping me to solve any issues, they were asking how I would solve them.

"They weren't taking any responsibility in helping to accommodate my needs, which is precisely how it should be under the Equality Act. I spoke to others about their interviews, and they were all asked extensively about the subject, their past education and their personal achievements.

"When I received the email to say I'd been rejected, their reason was that I 'didn't have enough relevant experience in the work place', yet this is not mentioned anywhere on the course criteria or entry requirements. It's an Access Course, so it’s specifically designed for students without any prior experience. Ironically, I've been volunteering at the Samaritans for the past year, so I have lots of experience that they never asked me about."

"I'm a mature student studying for an MA in Housing and Social Care at London South Bank University. I've got dyslexia, dyspraxia, cognitive delays, am blind in my right eye and I have complex mobility – so I have multiple disabilities, which means I need lots of extra help.

"I came to the LSBU specifically because it's within the top ten universities in the UK for Student Satisfaction – however, every time I've ever asked for help I've been sent away. The university pretend they're giving us the support by offering one-off tutorials, but with a member of staff from a completely different faculty with no understanding of our degree subject, so they're a total waste of time. Things have got so bad that I've had to find a tutor outside of university, which I'm having to self-fund on top of the £9,000 a year for the degree.

"The most recent incident happened last term, when one of my lecturers accidentally uploaded another student's work on my portal and failed it. Upon realising this was another student's work, he removed it from my portal and passed it.

"I submitted a complaint accusing them of malicious marking, which they have completely denied. I have tried incredibly hard to get justice for this, and have got nowhere. They make you play a game of snake and ladders, referring you to one person who tells you to contact a different department. I think they want me to get bored and give up trying. They've made my life total hell."

We contacted the three universities involved in this piece. Kathryn’s Oxbridge college refused to comment on any individual student cases and Tom's university repeatedly refused to comment on the matter.

London Southbank University said: "In accordance with the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 part 4 and the Discrimination Act 2005, LSBU is actively working towards improving student experience, which is reflected in our placing tenth in the UK for Student Satisfaction."

@saskiarowlands2