User Groups
Student Disability Statistics
UoM Student Disability Types
Australian University Students
Key facts
- 10.6% of Australian domestic students have a disability.
- Between 2020 and 2022, the number of domestic students in Australia fell by 2.7%.
- Between 2020 and 2022, the number of domestic students with a disability rose by 39%.
| All domestic students |
728,553
|
799,531
|
845,002
|
875,913
|
921,186
|
972,292
|
1,013,831
|
1,035,474
|
1,055,274
|
1,071,448
|
1,071,980
|
1,076,790
|
1,124,453
| 1,153,550 | 1,094,233 |
|---|
| Domestic undergrad students with a disability |
24,311
|
26,106
|
29,441
|
32,608
|
35,994
|
38,707
|
43,385
|
47,256
|
50,206
|
54,265
|
58,157
|
61,349
|
65,444
| 84,104 | 90,584 |
|---|
| Domestic postgrad students with a disability |
6,561
|
7,530
|
8,661
|
9,503
|
10,499
|
11,372
|
12,220
|
12,763
|
13,511
|
14,276
|
15,078
|
16,284
|
18,242
| 24,341 | 25,838 |
|---|
| All domestic students with a disability |
30,872
|
33,636
|
38,102
|
42,111
|
46,493
|
50,079
|
55,605
|
60,019
|
63,717
|
68,541
|
73,235
|
77.633
|
83,686
| 108,445 | 116,422 |
|---|
| % of domestic students with a disability |
4.1
|
4.2
|
4.5
|
4.8
|
5.0
|
5.2
|
5.5
|
5.8
|
6.0
|
6.4
|
6.8
|
7.2
|
7.4
| 9.4 | 10.6 |
|---|
University of Melbourne Students
Key facts
- Between 2021 and 2022, the number of UoM domestic students fell by 3%, but the number of students with a disability rose by 12%.
- Of the 10.6% Australian domestic students with a disability, 28% are postgraduate.
- Of the 9.7% UoM domestic students with a disability, 45% are postgraduate.
| All UoM domestic students |
32,680
|
32,928
|
34,379
|
34,804
|
35,771
|
37,074
|
38,136
|
39,178
|
39,620
|
39,910
|
40,133
|
40589
|
41210
| 43115 | 41756 |
|---|
| UoM undergrad students with a disability |
783
|
776
|
805
|
837
|
841
|
888
|
1044
|
1119
|
1122
|
1177
|
1259
|
1393
|
1629
| 1958 | 2220 |
|---|
| UoM postgrad students with a disability |
331
|
361
|
435
|
557
|
709
|
810
|
974
|
1084
|
1182
|
1180
|
1227
|
1245
|
1417
| 1628 | 1827 |
|---|
| All UoM domestic students with a disability |
1114
|
1137
|
1240
|
1394
|
1550
|
1698
|
2018
|
2203
|
2304
|
2357
|
2486
|
2638
|
3046
| 3586 | 4047 |
|---|
| % of UoM domestic students with a disability |
3.4
|
3.5
|
3.6
|
4.0
|
4.3
|
4.6
|
5.3
|
5.6
|
5.8
|
5.9
|
6.2
|
6.5
|
7.4
| 8.3 | 9.7 |
|---|
Source:
Australian Government, Department of Education and Training, Student Data - Equity Groups
Staff Disability Statistics
Neurodiverse Individuals
Types of Difficulties
- Memory.
- Problem Solving.
- Attention, e.g. ADHD
- Reading, linguistic and verbal comprehension, e.g. dyslexia
- Mathematical comprehension
- Visual comprehension
Assistive Technologies
- Visual learning software
- Speech, spellchecker, e.g. TextHelp
- Text to voice, e.g. WYNNS
Barriers to Access
- Users may have trouble remembering the overall context of a web site or task.
- Users may make more errors than usual.
- Users may be easily distracted.
- Users may be have difficulty reading web content.
Example
Vision Impairments
Blindness
- Users often listen to pages using a screen reader.
- Barrier to access: content often isn’t read out correctly.
Low Vision
- Users often set their own font and background colors.
- Users often magnify the screen to make it more readable.
- Barrier to access: content doesn’t resize correctly.
- Barrier to access: insufficient contrast between text and background.
Color Blindness
- Reds and greens often indistinguishable.
Assistive Technologies
- Screen Reader, e.g. JAWS, WindowEyes, NVDA
- Braille Reader
- Screen Magnifier
- Voice recognition, e.g. Dragon NaturallySpeaking
Example
Motor Impairments
Types of Motor Impairment
- Spinal cord injury.
- Lost or damaged limb.
- Cerebral palsy.
- Muscular dystrophy.
- Multiple sclerosis.
- Spina bifida
- Lou Gehrig's disease
- Arthritis
- Parkinson's disease
- Essential tremor
Assistive technologies
- Mouth stick.
- Head wand.
- Single-switch access.
- Sip and puff switch.
- Oversized trackball mouse.
- Adaptive keyboard.
- Eye tracking.
- Voice recognition software.
Barriers to Access
- 40% of people with a motor impairment have difficulty using their hands.
- Users may not be able to use the mouse.
- Users may not be able to control the mouse or keyboard well.
- Users may be using voice-activated software.
- Users may become easily fatigued.
Example
Deaf and Hard of Hearing
Types of hearing loss
- Mild. Speech can be difficult to understand.
- Moderate. Hearing aid might be required.
- Severe. Hearing aid useful in some cases.
- Profound. The absence of the ability to hear.
Assistive Technologies
- Hearing aid
- Cochlear implant
Barriers to Access
- Audio is unusable without transcripts or captions.
- Volume can’t be controlled.
- Playback position can’t be controlled.
Example