Quick Actions (30-second read)
- Build flexible support into course design for everyone, not only students who disclose a condition.
- Offer a private, low-stigma route to discuss support needs.
- Avoid framing an adjustment as special treatment in front of others.
- Check in proactively, rather than waiting for a student to report a problem.
- Recognise a student’s strengths, not only the areas where they need support.
Why this matters
Several conditions are frequently undiagnosed or undisclosed, which means disclosure-dependent support systematically misses many of the students who need it most. Framing a genuinely helpful adjustment as special treatment can damage a student’s sense of belonging, while the same adjustment offered as ordinary course design benefits everyone and carries no stigma at all.
Student Voice
“I don’t understand how anyone can think like that. Access to education is a right… I have the right to point out my problems.”
Practical Examples
- A course builds staged deadlines and written instructions into its design for every student, so no one has to disclose ADHD just to get support.
- A lecturer offers a private, unhurried check-in partway through a project, available to any student who wants one.
Full Checklist
- Is the support I’m offering available to every student, or only to those who’ve disclosed something to me?
- Have I avoided singling out a student’s need for flexibility in front of others?
- Have I checked in proactively with any student who seems to be struggling?
- Have I mentioned a strength of this student’s recently, not just a gap?