Earlier in the year, SKILL: the National Bureau for Students with Disabilities, decided to contact disabled students who would be prepared to share their experiences of becoming a student. They wanted to collect together a selection of experiences to feature in the latest edition of Into Higher Education, a publication which offers invaluable advice and encouragement to disabled students who are thinking of studying at university. The purpose of SKILL is to arm disabled students with the information they need to overcome some of the barriers they experience and become successful students.

Gareth Scourfield-Thomas, an undergraduate of the Ashcroft International Business School at the Cambridge campus, relished the opportunity to share his positive experiences of his first year here at Anglia Ruskin and his contribution was one chosen from among many others to be included in the publication alongside students from Balliol College (University of Oxford), Sheffield Hallam University, the Open University and the University of Durham.

Gareth is pictured three times in the publication, in one shot (reproduced above) he is seen alongside his present note-taker, Anne Keane, and Julia Barts, a Ukrainian visually-impaired student, also studying in the Ashcroft International Business School.

Finding out about what support is on offer at particular universities is very important for all disabled students. Gareth met with the learning supporters here at Anglia Ruskin well in advance of making his final decision about where to study. In his contribution to SKILL, Gareth is keen to pass on advice based on his personal experience of choosing Anglia Ruskin: "take a look at what facilities they have to offer to support students with your disability, ask the staff questions, seek any advice they can give you."

The role of support for disabled students at Anglia Ruskin is to "level the playing field" in terms of allowing all students the same opportunities to access their chosen course, whether they are disabled or non-disabled, and across the institution hundreds of disabled students are supported in this way. In Gareth's case this means not just the note-taking facility, but also the production course material in the enlarged font-size he requires, assistance in obtaining research material, organisation of suitable examination arrangements and lecturers within the Business School being made aware of his visual impairment.

Gareth has successfully progressed to his second year of study here at Anglia Ruskin and this is a testament to the hard work he has undertaken, and also to the dedicated and professional support from Iain Hood and his team in the Learning Support Centre.