Changes to disability data

All universities in New Zealand are currently undertaking a change in the way we identify our Deaf and disabled learners. This change will help us provide the support our learners require on their university journeys and ensure that we adequately measure the number of learners with disabilities at the point of enrolment.

What are the changes?

1. The following question is now compulsory to complete when a student applies to study at AUT: “Do you describe yourself as disabled, Deaf, neurodiverse, tangata whaikaha Māori, or living with a long-term physical or mental health condition?”
2. A new compulsory question has been added to ask students for the support they would like to access (option set)​:
   • Access to assistive technology​
   • Accessible format resources for course content​
   • Mobility and transport​
   • New Zealand Sign Language Interpreter
   • Support with reading, writing and communicating ​
   • Other learning or disability support​
   • No, I don’t wish to access support​
3. Disability categories have changed, including wording updates and consolidation and removal of categories. These are as follows:
   • Autism spectrum disorder (neuro diverse) to become Neurodivergent (for example ADD, ADHD, ASD etc)
   • Head injury to be merged with Medical (chronic or ongoing)
   • Hearing (impaired) to become Hard of hearing
   • Intellectual to be updated to include Intellectual (for example Down Syndrome, Prader-Willi syndrome, FASD etc)
   • Psychological / psychiatric to become Long-term mental health condition
   • Specific Learning (e.g. dyslexia, dyscalculia etc) to be updated to include Specific Learning (for example dyslexia, dyscalculia, dysgraphia etc)
   • Speech impairment to become Speech (for example Apraxia, Dysarthria etc)
   • Traumatic Brain Injury to be merged with Medical (chronic or ongoing)
   • Vision (blind) to become Blind
   • Vision (impaired) to become Low vision
   • Removal of Memory as a separate category

Our Disability Support service team are available to assist students with these changes in person or can assist students to amend via My AUT.