Enhancing Student Outcomes through Inclusive Assessment Design

Across UK higher education, students and staff are navigating an increasingly precarious landscape: growing demand, shrinking resources, long delays for diagnostic assessments, and support systems stretched far beyond capacity. For many disabled students, this translates into interrupted learning, inconsistent adjustments, and the burden of repeatedly having to “prove” their needs across the institution.

Against this backdrop, questions of competence and capability can become sites of tension. Staff frequently tell us they feel torn between maintaining traditional assessment methods and implementing inclusive practices - especially when time, money, and clarity feel scarce. There is also a persistent misconception that inclusivity risks making things “easier,” or compromising on what students should be able to do within their programme.

Drawing on crip theory, we will unpack how traditional notions of competence are shaped by ableist norms - norms that assume a single “correct” way to demonstrate knowledge or skill. By “cripping” competence, we can re-examine how traditional assessment design may unintentionally privilege certain bodies, minds, and ways of working, and how reframing these assumptions can open up more robust, authentic pathways for students to demonstrate what they truly know and can do. 

A key part of effectively embedding inclusive practices involves engaging directly with the disabled students affected by them. We’ll share insights from our own work, demonstrating how collaborative processes can support you in rethinking assessment creatively and confidently. 

We’d love you to join us for a session that is reflective, challenging, but ultimately hopeful. In a moment where the sector feels under pressure from all sides, this workshop offers space to rethink how competence is discussed - and how engaging with inclusive assessment in practice can help to construct a future where disabled students can thrive.

If you require reasonable adjustments to participate in this event, please email contact@disabledstudents.co.uK by Friday 28th November 2025.

About Disabled Students UK (DSUK)

Founded in 2020, Disabled Students UK (DSUK) has quickly become the largest disabled student-led organisation in the UK. The organisation shares disabled students’ insight into accessibility with the goal of driving policy change.

DSUK has built a reputation as an evidence-based organisation. Their 2020 report, which warned the sector about the impact of the pandemic on disabled students, was mentioned in parliament. Their 2022 report Going Back is Not a Choice which presents key accessibility lessons from the pandemic has been hailed as “a potential game changer in its review of UK HE inclusive provision”.

DSUK has thrice been recognised as one of the most influential disabled-led organisations in the UK by Disability Power 100, winning the category in 2023. The organisation has a collaborative approach to change and offers consulting and training to universities and students’ unions, disseminating disabled students’ insight. They have worked with institutions such as the University College London and organisations such as the National Union of Students, presenting for the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Disability and Westminster Higher Education Forum. Their vision is a truly accessible higher education experience, ensuring disabled people equal access to education and the associated societal and self-development opportunities. 

Find DSUK across the web: https://linktr.ee/DisabledStudentsUK