Our Story
The National Disabled Students’ Association (NDSA) is a non-partisan national body that represents disabled ākonga across the motu, and aims to challenge the collective barriers facing our learners within the tertiary education space.
We follow the social and human rights models of disability; acknowledging the barriers in society that disable us, along with disability as a natural part of human diversity, and all disabled individuals deserve rights such as access to education. It has been long understood that tertiary education can be a disabling environment, and so the NDSA seeks to ensure that our voices are heard in addressing these issues. The NDSA follows the mantra of the wider disability movement: “Nothing about us without us“.
Check out an Easy Read about what the National Disabled Students’ Association is [PDF, May 2022]
How do we understand disability?
To be disabled, or to have a disability, refers to a diverse and complex phenomenon. Disability can reflect the interaction between an individual’s needs and the barriers of their environment. It can also be something we inherently experience, and that’s okay; many of us take pride in our identity as disabled individuals, and we work hard to ensure we’re included and given access to fair education alongside our peers.
Although many of us identify as disabled, we acknowledge not everyone who experiences disability uses ‘disabled’ as an identity. We aim to be inclusive, and we cover students from many different backgrounds, including those who experience or identify as having (but not limited to):
- Physical disability
- Invisible disability
- Mental health and psychological conditions
- Learning and sensory differences
- Neurodivergence
- Chronic illness
- Blind or low vision
- Deaf or hard of hearing
We represent and provide advocacy to a wide range of students across the students with diverse needs!
What do we do?
Community building and engagement
- We host community events to connect the disabled learner cohort on topics that matter to them
- We support disabled student leaders to establish and grow their own local community, often through student clubs and associations
- We train disabled student leaders, covering topics such as governance, advocacy, and facilitation
Advocacy and representation
- We support disabled learners accessing their local disability support services and complaints pathways
- We write submissions to government on legislation and policy that impacts the disability and tertiary education sectors
- We amplify disabled learner voices on committees and advisory groups for different organisations, such as the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA), Tertiary Education Commission (TEC), and more
- We represent disabled learner voice at conferences, such as Festival for the Future, Student Voice Symposium Australia, and Disability Inclusive Pathways
Research and consultation
- We work to investigate the state of tertiary education for disabled learners, such as our research into student wellbeing and with tertiary education agencies
- We partner with external organisations to improve their accessibility to disabled students
Nothing about us, without us