Ms Julie Tonge:

That might be an idea not just for students with autism but for other students as well. The cost of disability is high. We saw the issue with PhD students who lost their grant because of the stipend and, thankfully, the new law has gone some way towards addressing that, but it is the same for undergraduate students as well. There are additional costs to having a disability. Not all students with autism would, for example, be able to live independently and that restricts their choices for college.

They could have long commutes. College alone is enough to take on, without taking on part-time work and other things outside of college. There are definitely additional costs and it would be very welcome if SUSI looked at the additional costs of disability in the round, including those for students with autism.