My research project will examine the topic of disability services at UOW. The purpose of the research will be to understand how these services help students with medical conditions, disabilities and injuries, whether or not those experiences with the University’s services are positive or negative and how they can be improved.
The topic of disability services at UOW is highly relevant as the COVID isolation and lock down have particularly impacted Australians with a disability. For example, in a survey conducted by People with Disability Australia, 40%-45% of respondents received less support during the pandemic (People with Disability Australia, 2020). In addition, the Australian Human Rights Commission found that Australia has low employment rates for people with a disability compared to other OECD countries (Australian Human Rights Commission, 2005). While, in its series on Understanding the NDIS, the website The Conversation highlighted that people eligible for support under the NDIS may miss out on services (Fisher, 2016).
Given the importance of tertiary education in employment rates, it is timely to assess whether students are aware of how these services can help them and that students with a disability are accessing services relevant to their needs.
I plan to use both quantitative and qualitative research practices to understand the impact of these services and what areas students believe needs the most improvement. I hope this type of research would enable university staff to understand how accessible students find these services and whether the services are delivering to student needs.
My quantitative research will be to determine whether disability services are easily accessible for all students who need these services. This will include secondary research to ensure what proportion of students are utilizing UOW disability services and comparing these levels of disability in the general population. This would enable an assessment of whether all disabled students are accessing services. Sources such as the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, provides information on the prevalence of disability in Australia (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2020), while the NDIS itself provides Data and Insights into participation and outcomes (National Disability Insurance Agency, n.d.).
As part of this I hope to leverage any research that the University has already conducted. I plan to gather this quantitative research by emailing faculty and heads of departments to capture the number of students that use these services, how the University assesses their ability to reach an audience of students with disabilities.
My qualitative research will involve the experience of students who use disability services. I plan to conduct interviews to gain a better perspective on the ways these services help students. I hope the results of this qualitative research will to help the University staff recognise where they have opportunities to improve.
I expect the use of secondary research to assess the expected level of demand for disability services will require less allocation of time to complete, allowing a focus on qualitative research. To manage time on the qualitative research, I plan to interview 2-3 participants early in the research. I may also utilise a questionnaire to broaden the participant reach, and enable more confidential responses or ability to respond anonymously. A point to think about is getting people to engage with my survey on the Twitter hashtag #bcm212 which would enable a faster reach and impact on timeliness of the responses.
References:
Australian Human Rights Commission. (2005, March 4). National Inquiry into Employment and Disability: Issues Paper 1. Retrieved from Australian Human Rights Commission: https://humanrights.gov.au/our-work/publications/national-inquiry-employment-and-disability-issues-paper-1#:~:text=Almost%2020%20per%20cent%20of,females%20report%20having%20a%20disability
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2020, October 2). People with disability in Australia. Retrieved from Australian Institute of Health and Welfare: https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/disability/people-with-disability-in-australia/contents/people-with-disability/prevalence-of-disability
Fisher, K. R. (2016, July 7). The Conversation. Retrieved from Understanding the NDIS: many eligible people with disabilities are likely to miss out: https://theconversation.com/understanding-the-ndis-many-eligible-people-with-disabilities-are-likely-to-miss-out-61016
National Disability Insurance Agency. (n.d.). NDIS. Retrieved March 26, 2022, from Data and insights: https://data.ndis.gov.au/
People with Disability Australia. (2020, June 5). Experiences Of People With Disability During COVID-19: Survey Results. Retrieved from People with Disability Australia: https://pwd.org.au/experiences-of-people-with-disability-during-covid-19-survey-results/
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