The academic attainment of students with disabilities in UK higher education

This study investigated the role of disablement as a predictor of academic attainment among students awarded first degrees by UK institutions of higher education in 2004-05. Disability explained only 0.1% of the variation in attainment, as measured by whether the graduates had obtained good degrees (i.e. with first-class or upper second-class honours). Graduates with dyslexia and graduates with multiple disabilities were less likely to obtain good degrees than graduates with no known disability, but this was mainly due to the confounded effects of demographic and institutional variables. Graduates with an unseen disability were the only group to show significantly poorer attainment when the latter variables had been controlled. In overall terms, disablement per se does not play a significant role in predicting attainment.