'We're being left behind’: Disabled students warn proposed cuts to specialist tech threaten to leave thousands out of work
Disabled students have told LBC the Government risks "leaving the community behind" and out of work over its plans to slash funding for vital technology that assists with their studies.
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Tens of thousands of disabled students who require specialist assistive technology are having their needs reassessed as the Department for Education (DfE) considers sweeping cuts.
Currently, disabled students can apply for funded specialist software through the Disabled Students’ Allowance. More than 88,000 students benefited in 2023-24, costing £203 million.
Undergraduate and postgraduate students can claim up to £27,783 for 25/26 and 26/27 academic years through the DSA.
But new proposals from the DfE say support in the form of specialist software is only needed in “exceptional circumstances".
"Where a student requires support that can't be met through widely-available free tools, they will continue to receive funded software through DSA - no one will be left without the support they need to study with confidence," the DfE insists.
But disabled students are now warning that the change could lead to an exodus of students if the threshold for receiving targeted support is changed.
Speaking to LBC, students say it will impose disadvantages while they already have to work twice as hard as their peers to complete their degrees.
They claim the free alternatives the Government is proposing they use as a back-up are not up to scratch. It means they could be left in more debt if they decide to pay for their own specialist tech out of pocket.
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This could put others off applying for university altogether, in turn making it more difficult to find work, they warn.
Sam Wood, Disabled Students’ Officer for the Students’ Union at Edge Hill University, told LBC the proposed cuts “would really add an extra burden” to disabled students.
The 19-year-old, who has a visual impairment, says he burns twice as much energy as his peers completing weekly readings for his criminology degree.
“Going to university as a disabled student is quite a challenge within itself, never mind having to prove that you are disabled with a diagnosis that you obviously already have,” Sam told LBC.
But specific software such as Scholarcy and MindView, funded by the Disabled Students' Allowance (DSA), helps him keep up.
The Government-funded software summarises long journal articles into key points, saving him from wasting hours on irrelevant literature. He then uses MindView to break that information down into manageable visual chunks that he can easily refer to when writing.
He warns that the Government’s proposals to cut the DSA work on the “dangerous presumption” that free, generic software can match the accuracy, customisation and seamless integration of the paid, specialist products he relies upon.
“My worry is that if students don't feel supported to access university in the same way as their peers by having software to help them, they won't feel a sense of belonging at university and might want to drop out if they don't settle in.”
He added that it could directly contradict the Government’s goal of getting more disabled people in work, arguing Sir Keir Starmer’s cabinet has created a “stigma” around the community.
Sam said: “It's just really contradictory. There's been a lot of stuff in the news recently around getting disabled people into work and young people not being employed, and at the same time they try running a consultation to cut support for those people who go into university.
“Obviously, if you want young people with disabilities to get into work, then getting a degree is a good way of doing that.”
Helena Mok, 22, has autism, ADHD and fibromyalgia, a chronic condition causing musculoskeletal pain and fatigue.
This makes studying for her Neuroscience and Data Science degree at Keele University an added struggle. But assistive tech funded by Government grants provide a vital lifeline keeping her on top of her work.
The fourth-year student uses lecture recording software called Genio, which provides her with accurate transcripts, and an app to correct her grammar. The DSA also provides her with ergonomic equipment, including a specialised chair, a standing desk, and a lap desk.
As she sometimes experiences so much pain that she is unable to get up for days, the allowance also provides her with a mini-fridge to keep ice packs close by during painful flare-ups.
Helena told LBC the disabled community is being “left behind” as the Government considers replacing the technology she currently uses with free alternatives.
She said alternative mass-market AI tools like ChatGPT or Copilot misjudge the needs of disabled students as they are not targeted to their individual needs and are “fundamentally unsuited to higher education”.
She said: “There are so many people that are fully capable of going to uni, thriving in uni, doing, doing amazing things."
Helena said they “just need this extra bit of help” and by changing how that looks, “you are leaving these people behind when they could contribute so much.”
She added: “[To say] we want the disabled community to go to get into work, to go out and get a job… but then to also turn around and say ‘actually we're not going to support you when you go into higher education or go into work’... it's all very counterintuitive.”
Robyn Bradbury, a 20-year-old Theology at Durham University, agrees that the free AI tools the Government is directing people towards “aren’t accurate” and won’t provide sufficient support for disabled students.
The second-year student, who is autistic, says she has been greatly helped by funded assistive technology throughout her degree and in her day-to-day life and “can't imagine being without it”.
“I'm quite angry that this is like the thought of it being taken away could remove the opportunity to go to university for like many students that would have been in my position,” she said.
Robyn added: “I think about all the things that university has been able to offer me, both in that academic sense, but also, as an autistic person, learning how to live on my own, to approach new places and environments in a way that I possibly wouldn't have imagined, that I would have been able to back then.
“[I feel] anger for other people that aren't going to be able to experience these things just because their disability isn't being supported in the way that they need.
“it's not only that they're not going to be able to go to university, but off the back of that, it's going to be made harder for them to maybe get into employed”
She also warned it could come as a shock to students who are halfway through their degrees and enrolled “with the expectation that you would have the support that you need”.
Robyn added that it places an added stress on the disabled community particularly at a time “when universities are facing massive budget cuts”, with hundreds of staff recently leaving under a voluntary severance scheme.
“When they don't have people like that, it's hard to get disability support from your university and it's just going to leave people even more in the dark,” Robyn said.
Bata vice-chair Nicole Michael said that the government’s proposals fundamentally misunderstood the “nuances associated” with individual DSA recipients' needs.
She said: "These proposals, if implemented, would be catastrophic for disabled students in higher education.
“We are not talking about a software preference. We are talking about the tools that enable students with dyslexia, ADHD, autism, and mental health conditions to read, write, research, and participate in their degrees on equal terms with their peers. Replacing individually assessed, clinically recommended specialist software with free generic tools is not a modernisation of the DSA system.
“It is the dismantling of it. The research evidence is overwhelming and consistent: specialist assistive technology improves outcomes, builds independence, and supports disabled students into employment. These proposals move in the opposite direction.”
Around 13,000 people have signed a petition opposing the cuts.
In response to concerns, a Department for Education spokesperson said: “Opportunity should be open to every young person in our country, especially disabled students, and the right support must be there to help them reach their potential. "As technology has moved on, much of the functionality in the tools DSA currently funds is now freely available and already widely used by university students.
"We want to modernise the system to reflect this, while ensuring that all students continue to receive further specialist help if they need it.
"Where a student requires support that can’t be met through widely-available free tools, they will continue to receive funded software through DSA – no one will be left without the support they need to study with confidence.”