The University of Cambridge welcomes disabled students. There are currently disabled students studying subjects from medicine to engineering, music to African studies. There are also many disabled staff working within the University, teaching, and providing support services to students.
A large number of disabled students have an unseen impairment or long-term health condition. There are increasing numbers of students coming to Cambridge with a mental health condition, a specific learning difficulty, or Asperger syndrome, or with long term health conditions, such as diabetes and chronic fatigue syndrome.
Of the 18,000+ students studying at Cambridge, nearly 13% of them, over 2,300, are registered with the Accessibility and Disability Resource Centre. This compares with an average proportion of 8.8% within England and Wales higher education institutions, according to the Equality Challenge Unit's 2013 statistical report.
relatively small but intelligent interventions can really be transformative in allowing disabled students to fully realise our potential.
(international student)
What does the ADRC mean by the term disabled people?
The ADRC uses the term disabled people to include all those who experience barriers in accessing education due to having or being considered to have an impairment. This includes students with specific learning difficulties such as dyslexia, dyspraxia or AD(H)D, those with mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression, those with physical or sensory impairments and those with autism spectrum conditions.