Mette Anwar-Westander
Founder and Chief Executive at Disabled Students UK
Education
Mette Anwar-Westander is the Founding Director of Disabled Students UK (DSUK), a non-profit community interest research organisation working to improve accessibility in Higher Education.
Forced to leave university in 2020 due to inaccessibility, Mette founded DSUK to ensure that disabled students’ lived experience is used by the Higher Education sector to become more inclusive.
Having completed a BA in Psychology and Philosophy from the University of Oxford and research experience at the University of Cambridge, Mette employs an evidence-based and collaborative approach to informing policy, working alongside bodies such as UKRI and universities such as Oxford to produce research and information campaigns. DSUK’s 2020 report which warned the sector about the impact of the pandemic on disabled students, was mentioned in parliament, and their 2022 report on lessons from the pandemic was hailed as a potential game changer in its review of UK HE inclusive provision. DSUK is widely sought for their research, public speaking, training and consulting services.
Run by current and former disabled students, DSUK leads with lived experience expertise. This year they released the Annual Disabled Student Survey, the largest survey exploring accessibility in UK Higher Education. The survey is supported by university members and represents the culmination of Mette’s dedication to co-production between disabled students and sector staff to enact a material change in Higher Education.
Leading a new generation of disabled people, Mette champions “prefigurativism”: making the work for change itself represent the world they are trying to bring about. With a community of over 500 disabled students, DSUK’s organising is built on the idea of interdependence, allowing co-workers and volunteers to stand proud in both their competence and their challenges. Through sharing their disability-informed expertise, DSUK’s consultants are changing the sector’s perceptions of disability and ability.
Mette is frequently invited to present their research by organisations such as Westminster Higher Education and is a regular keynote speaker for the HE sector. This year they completed an MSc in Cognitive Neuroscience.
“The next generation of disabled people is marked by diversity – we come from different backgrounds, are neurodiverse and have intersecting identities. By celebrating differences and working interdependently we show how everyone, whether they are abled or disabled, benefits from dismantling ableism.”
Disability Power 100 2023 profile information has been self-submitted by the profile subject. Shaw Trust understands and respects that disability and impairment descriptors and language use varies from person to person. Shaw Trust assumes no responsibility or liability for any errors or discrepancies in the content of this, or any other, profile page.
Image credit: Matt Hoser
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