The Centre for Higher Education Studies and the Centre for Doctoral Education at UCL Institute of Education held a seminar series, to which I contributed in the virtual event on the 30th of June with my presentation entitled “Disclosure Dances: The experience of PhD students with invisible disabilities in higher education”.

From statistics we know that disclosure rates amongst postgraduate research students in higher education are much lower than in the general population or amongst undergraduate students. However, there is no evidence that invisible disabilities are less prevalent in higher education. In this presentation, Nicole draws on her research funded by the CDE seedcorn scheme to present her findings from the project outlining the issues and concerns of doctoral students with invisible disabilities. Nicole commences with a brief introduction to the Embodied Inquiry employing creative research methods for data collection. She then discusses how individuals are struggling to reconcile working and studying in what appears to be an inclusive academia with the realities of negotiating structural barriers, attitudinal challenges and managing symptoms of their conditions. Nicole concludes with some suggestions on what we can do as individuals to improve practices within academia and thereby support those with disabilities, chronic illnesses and/or neurodivergences. 

The slides accompanying this presentation can be downloaded from here.

The following video is the recording of my presentation: