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Publicly questioning a student's absence, lateness, or reduced participation.
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Framing an agreed adjustment as special treatment in front of others.
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Pressuring a student to disclose a diagnosis or personal details.
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Assuming quiet or reduced participation reflects a lack of engagement or effort.
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Treating flexibility requests as inconvenient rather than as removing a genuine barrier.
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Assuming a student who appears to be managing well does not still need flexibility available if things change.
In Practice — An unexpected presentation request
A student managing anxiety (drawing on the 'Jo' persona used elsewhere in this project's research) had been quietly attending and submitting strong written work throughout a module, then appeared visibly distressed when asked, with no advance warning, to present findings to the group the following week.
What helped: the tutor offered an alternative: submitting the same findings as a short recorded video instead of a live presentation, an option made available to the whole group rather than singled out for one student, so no one needed to explain why they had chosen it.
The lesson: the barrier was not the content of the task, which the student was fully capable of completing — it was the specific, high-exposure format. Offering an equivalent alternative to everyone removed the need for any individual student to request special treatment.