Leadership and Participation of Persons with Disabilities

In celebration of International Day of Persons with Disabilities and UK Disability History Month, UCL Student Support and Wellbeing are hosting an online conference spotlighting the amazing work and research from departments across UCL.

Schedule

Please see below for the conference schedule. You are welcome to attend some or all talks; you may join the webinar at any time and we will admit you. 

12:05-12:35: Centre for Research in Autism and Education (CRAE), Towards ‘a level playing field’: academic support for autistic university students

12:40-13:00: Expert student panel

13:00-13:30: Department of Psychology and Human Development, Children and young people with sensory and complex needs: enabling independence and improving inclusion

13:35-13:55: Disability, Mental Health and Wellbeing, Student Participation in Mental Health Support Services at University: highlighting student diversity, 360 degree support and the student experience.

13:55-14:15: Q&A

Accessibility 

This event will have a BSL interpreter, as well as live captioning overlays. A subtitled version of the recording will be made available soon after the event has taken place. If you have any concerns or accessibility requirements, please email us at ssw-comms@ucl.ac.uk. 

Full schedule

12:05-12:35: Towards ‘a level playing field’: academic support for autistic university students

Speakers

Sam Dexter is a part-time doctoral student at the Centre for Research in Autism and Education (CRAE), who has recently completed his MA in Special and Inclusive Education at UCL Institute of Education. Sam is also a teacher in a school for young people with special educational needs.

Laura Crane is an Associate Professor at UCL Institute of Education, where she is interim Director of the Centre for Research in Autism and Education (CRAE).  Laura developed, and now leads, the MA Special and Inclusive Education (Autism) programme at UCL Institute of Education.

Presentation outline

It is a university’s responsibility to ensure that their autistic students are supported academically.  While existing research gives us an indication of how universities provide this support, it reveals very little about the first-hand perspectives and experiences of autistic students themselves. In our presentation, we will report on a participatory project involving a collaboration between autistic and non-autistic staff and students at UCL, to examine the experiences that autistic students have with their academic support.

Specifically, we will present data from surveys with autistic university students across the UK, as well as in-depth interviews with autistic students at UCL, on this topic. Our findings will outline the academic supports which autistic university students consider to be effective, as well as the barriers that may prevents them from fully accessing their support. We conclude with recommendations for best practice at UCL and beyond.

This project was conducted in collaboration with Sarah-Louise Quinnell, Alice Surrey and Kana Umagami, funded by UCL Changemakers.

12:40-13:00 Expert student panel

Every Higher Education Institution has their own version and method of documenting reasonable adjustments. At UCL, we have the Summary of Reasonable Adjustments (SoRA). Our expert student panel will provide their reflections on how both the process and implementation of reasonable adjustments within Higher Education institutions have impacted them at UCL. They will discuss their participation in the SoRA process, as well as provide some insights and advice on how all institutions, including UCL, can promote student leadership and ownership of their reasonable adjustments. 

The panel will also be available throughout the conference to answer any questions the audience may have.

13:00-13:30: Children and young people with sensory and complex needs: enabling independence and improving inclusion

Speakers 

Dr Leda Kamenopoulou is an Associate Professor at UCL IOE, Department of Psychology and Human Development, and teaches on the Graduate Diploma in Habilitation and Disabilities of Sight. In 2009, she worked as a researcher for the Mobility 21 project.

Dr Jessica Hayton is a Lecturer in Psychology at UCL IOE, Department of Psychology and Human Development and Programme Lead for the Graduate Diploma in Habilitation and Disabilities of Sight.

Presentation outline

We will present some truly pioneering work in the area of sensory and complex needs, with a specific focus on the development of children and young people’s mobility, orientation and life skills, which has been successfully led for more than a decade by the Department of Psychology and Human Development at UCL Institute of Education.

According to research, people with the most complex needs are ‘a minority within the minority’ of people with disabilities and they have so far been largely neglected from global and local debates regarding inclusion in education and the wider society. For example, evidence suggests that the mechanisms established internationally to ensure that countries meet the global education targets fail to consider those with the most complex needs, who are at the highest risk for exclusion. The work we present here aims to support greater engagement and participation through the development of independence and by enabling children and young people with sensory and complex needs to take ownership of their lives.

In our presentation, we will provide a brief overview of ground-breaking research and practice at the Department of Psychology and Human Development and we will demonstrate that it has had and continues to have a measurable, significant and long-lasting impact on national policy, research and practice. We will trace the early stages of this work since the Mobility 21 project and we will celebrate its numerous outcomes and achievements through to the development of the Graduate Diploma in Habilitation and Disabilities of Sight, which is today the only bespoke and direct programme in the UK leading to the nationally recognised qualifications of ‘Habilitation Assistant’ and ‘Habilitation Specialist’.

13:35-13:55: Student Participation in Mental Health Support Services at University: highlighting student diversity, 360 degree support and the student experience

Speakers

Kenny Aruwa and Saeed Zeydabadi-Nejad

Presentation outline

Disability, Mental Health and Wellbeing sit within UCL Student Support and Wellbeing. Their service delivers support and advice to students, enabling them to thrive throughout their time at university and beyond. They also oversee implementation of reasonable adjustments, including mental health mentoring and study skills tutoring for students with specific learning differences.

13:55-14:15: Q&A 

This 20 minute Q&A session will open the floor to the audience to ask questions to panellists and speakers.