User Groups

Student Disability Statistics

UoM Student Disability Types

Australian University Students

Key facts

  • 7.4% of Australian domestic students have a disability.
  • Between 2018 and 2020, the number of domestic students in Australia rose by 5%.
  • Between 2018 and 2020, the number of domestic students with a disability rose by 14%.
2008200920102011201220132014201520162017201820192020
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
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
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
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
% 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

University of Melbourne Students

Key facts

  • Of the 7.4% of Australian domestic students with a disability, 78% are undergraduate.
  • Of the 7.4% of Australian domestic students with a disability, 22% are postgraduate.
  • Of the 7.4% of UoM domestic students with a disability, 53% are undergraduate.
  • Of the 7.4% of UoM domestic students with a disability, 47% are postgraduate.
2008200920102011201220132014201520162017201820192020
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
UoM undergrad students with a disability 783 776 805 837 841 888 1044 1119 1122 1177 1259 1393 1629
UoM postgrad students with a disability 331 361 435 557 709 810 974 1084 1182 1180 1227 1245 1417
All UoM domestic students with a disability 1114 1137 1240 1394 1550 1698 2018 2203 2304 2357 2486 2638 3046
% 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

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

Contact Us

For accessibility problems please contact:

Andrew Normand
Web Accessibility Lead
Email: anormand@unimelb.edu.au
Phone: +61 3 9035 4867

For all other enquiries contact: