Newsletter: An increasing number of students have a disability
Over the past ten years, the number of students with a disability has increased significantly. According to AU's Counselling and Support Centre, particularly the number of students with an attention disorder or who are on the autism spectrum has increased drastically.
Dyslexia, dyscalculia and ADHD. These are some of the most common disabilities among NAT students, and since 2014 AU's Counselling and Support Centre has registered a significant increase in the number of students with a disability who are enrolled on an AU degree programme.
"When we look at the data from the last ten years, we see a significant increase in the number of students who receive special educational support across all the faculties at AU," says Rune Kjær Kappel, who is section manager at the Counselling and Support Centre.
The students who receive support from the counselling centre can be divided into two main groups: Students with dyslexia or dyscalculia, and students with a mental or neurological disorder. One group in particular has grown – also at NAT.
"We can see that the biggest increase is in the number of students with a mental or neurological disorder," says Rune Kjær Kappel.
Disabilities affect teaching too
According to the Counselling Centre's annual report, the number of students with ADHD and ADD has increased, but also the number of students on the autism spectrum has increased compared to what it was ten years ago.
These are also the disabilities that are strongly represented in the Counselling and Support Centre's statistics for NAT, says Rune Kjær Kappel. And it’s something the faculty teaching staff must take into consideration, he says:
"It can be useful for teachers to be aware that things like structural difficulties are often associated with having these types of disability. So, if you as a teacher can accommodate these students’ needs for more structure, clarity and clearness, then this will definitely help them a lot," he says.
This trend is seen throughout the education sector, explains Rune Kjær Kappel, and he emphasises that the figures only include the students that the counselling centre helps.
Fact box:
According to the Counselling and Support Centre's most recent annual report, there were a total of 2100 students who received special educational support at AU in the spring semester of 2023. This corresponds to 6.6 per cent of the students at the university.
In the spring semester of 2023, a total of 1353 of these students received support from the Counselling and Support Centre, corresponding to 4.2 per cent of the students at AU.
Of the 1353 students who received support, one in four had dyslexia or dyscalculia. And three in four of the students had a mental or neurological disorder.
From 2018 to 2023, the number of students with mental and neurological disabilities who were affiliated with the Counselling and Support Centre increased by 86 per cent. During the same period, there was a 32 per cent increase in the number of students with dyslexia and dyscalculia.
Links to some useful resources from Rune and the Counselling and Support Centre:
Inspiration from AU Educate
Report and guidelines from the Danish Center for Teaching Environmet