What the first National Disabled Staff Survey tells us

The first National Disabled Staff Survey exposes the deep structural barriers faced by disabled staff in higher education. Susan Wilbraham, Ruth Gilligan, and Jackie Carter draw on the voices of the sector to explain more.

Disabled staff in UK universities are delivering a clear and urgent message: inclusion is still too often an aspiration rather than a lived reality. I self‑describe as deaf and disabled. At a recent EDI event on intersectionality, I felt excluded, frustrated, and unable to fully participate. I reflected that giving voice to my experiences could lead to change. (Jackie Carter). Early findings from the first National Disabled Staff Survey (NDSS), completed by 837 disabled staff across 127 institutions in 2025, expose deep structural barriers that undermine wellbeing, career progression, and retention. RIDE Higher, a new initiative emerging from the National Association of Disabled Staff Networks (NADSN), has led this research to ensure that disabled staff voices shape understanding and action across the sector. This work comes at a pivotal moment. Alongside the NDSS, the launch of Advance HE’s Inclusive Institutions Framework gives universities a coherent structure for embedding inclusion across their organisations. Together, these developments represent a rare alignment of evidence, lived experience, and institutional infrastructure. They also reveal the gap between intentions and outcomes, and signal what must now change.