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Leading the way for equitable and accessible education Alice Mander (2017) is a champion for disabled rights. In 2021, together with others, she started the National Disabled Students’ Association (NDSA), which aims to improve inequities and eliminate some of the barriers disabled students face. Alice, who has Limb Girdle Muscular Dystrophy, just completed her fourth year of a conjoint arts and law degree at Victoria University of Wellington. She’s majoring in film studies and sociology and is in the honours law programme. Some New Zealand universities have their own disabled student associations. Alice acknowledges the amazing work they do, but she wanted to bring these issues to light at a national level. “It wasn’t a solely independent endeavour; I had amazing support from other national student associations that have now become NDSA’s partners,” she explains. “We work closely with the New Zealand Union of Student Associations, - ori Te Mana Akonga (the national Ma students’ association), and Tauira Pasifika. NDSA also had incredible support from other disabled student leaders, disabled persons’ organisations, and the tertiary institutions themselves.” Disabled students are among the most underserved populations in tertiary education. The barriers they face include access issues on campus, difficulty getting accommodations for assessments and exams, and negative attitudes from lecturers. They also
experience more financial and social pressures than their non-disabled peers due to costs of living, and challenges finding work and accessible housing and transport. Underpinning everything is the fact that the tertiary education system was built for non-disabled people, and business concerns now rival educational priorities.
disabilities, mental health conditions, chronic health conditions, sensory impairments, and neurodivergence.
NDSA’s goal is to highlight these inequities and to work with government agencies, the Ministry of Education, and student and disabled organisations to help solve them.
At the start of 2021, there were just two disabled student associations, at Victoria University and Otago University. This year, NDSA has supported the development of disabled student associations at the universities of Auckland, AUT, Waikato and Canterbury. It’s also working with students from Massey and various polytechnics to build community at their institutions.
“We strongly believe that disabled people are disabled by their environment, rather than their impairments, and tertiary education can be one of the most disabling environments.”
“We follow the philosophy ‘Nothing about us without us’. Disabled students should be leading the work. We want to bring them into decision-making conversations, so our voices are heard. Ultimately, we hope to build an education system that works for everyone. All students will benefit from a more equitable and accessible education.” NDSA’s definition of disability is broad. It includes physical and learning
“We strongly believe that disabled people are disabled by their environment, rather than their impairments, and tertiary education can be one of the most disabling environments.”
“We’ve had some fantastic wins this year, such as the new tertiary education Pastoral Care Code, which ensures that tertiary education providers have a duty to their students’ wellbeing and safety.” When she’s not studying or advocating for disabled people, Alice is enjoying student life and her love of the arts. In 2020, she performed a piece of writing with a group of disabled writers, Crip the Lit, at Wellington’s Verb Festival. She’s done stories for The SpinOff and Stuff to raise awareness of issues disabled people face, and she wrote a regular column for Salient, Victoria University’s student magazine. She’s also been involved with other student groups and had a show on the student radio network. DIO TODAY
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