Ulster Unionist MLA Robin Swann has highlighted the number of students with a learning disability who have been enrolled in Higher Education Institutions over the last five years, broken down by disability type.

The North Antrim MLA said:

“I tabled a question to the Employment & Learning Minister seeking information regarding students with a learning disability to establish what patterns, if any, could be discerned.

The answer included a table which revealed some very interesting statistics covering the years 2007/08 and 2011/12. There was no uniform pattern within the various categories of disability type, some increased, some decreased and some were broadly the same.  

The total number of students with a disability type has decreased from 3,465 in 2007/08 to 3,100 in 2011/12.

-       The number of students registered “blind or with a serious visual impairment uncorrected by glasses” fell from 360 in 2007/08 to only 85 in 2011/12.

-       The number of students registered “deaf or a serious hearing impairment” fell from 250 to 100 over the same period.

-       There is a notable increase in the number of people with a disability classified as ”a social/communication impairment such as Asperger’s syndrome/other autistic spectrum disorder” from 30 in 2007/08 up to 235 in 2011/12.

-       The other significant increase relates to those people with “a mental health condition such as depression, schizophrenia or anxiety disorder” which has risen from 185 in 2007/08 to 335 in 2011/12.

The significant increase in these last two categories is obviously to be welcomed and would appears to indicate that these students are increasingly able to access further education, but clearly some research is required to establish the reasons behind the apparent decrease in the number of students enrolled in the categories of visual and hearing impairment to ensure that those affected are receiving sufficient help and support.”