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Approaching, greeting, or speaking to a wheelchair user from behind.
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Pushing a wheelchair or moving belongings without being asked.
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Relocating a session to an inaccessible room without checking first.
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Assuming every student in this category needs the same adjustment.
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Penalising lateness or absence linked to a fluctuating condition without discussion.
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Treating a request for a rest break or extra time as disruptive rather than necessary.
In Practice — A relocated lab session
A wheelchair-using student (a composite, illustrative example) attending a practical module found their scheduled lab session moved, with only a day's notice, to a room up two flights of stairs with no lift access, because the usual room was double-booked.
What helped: the module leader identified an alternative accessible room within the same building and moved the session there instead, and put in place a standing rule that any future room change would be checked against accessibility requirements before being confirmed, not after.
The lesson: the barrier was entirely avoidable — it existed only because accessibility was not part of the standard checklist used when reallocating rooms. Once added to that checklist, the same problem did not recur for the rest of the module.