'Bringing everyone on the same journey’: revisiting inclusion in higher education

This study investigates inclusion in higher education, examining learning
environments for students with physical disabilities (SWPD) and the
challenges faced in promoting inclusive education, using an Australian
university as a case study. Drawing from the social model of disability
and interviews with 40 stakeholders, our findings suggest that despite
marked progress towards inclusive education through reasonable
adjustments for all, learning environments remain largely driven by
adjustments for individual students, creating organisational and personal
challenges. Four key challenges emerged: (1) staff perception about too
many resources creating student dependencies; (2) staff training needs;
(3) low representation of students with visible disabilities; and (4)
moving inclusion beyond education into employment. Our findings
emphasise the need to embed employability and skills development in
all aspects of teaching and learning while moving towards inclusive
education, to enable all students to develop professionally, and
reinforcing calls for an inclusive workplace that values and accepts SWPD.