Accessibility in exams for D/deaf students - Research and Analysis

Oct 20, 2026

D/deaf students face exam accessibility barriers despite not being formally recognised as having special educational needs, with evidence of underperformance and additional co-occurring needs. The review synthesises key findings on accessible assessment design, access arrangements, and language support strategies. It outlines definitions distinguishing Deaf and deaf learners, explains how access arrangements such as rest breaks, extra time, readers, and modified papers can support processing, comprehension, and communication demands in exam settings.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages8

Reading Time20 min

AccessFree to download

Executive summary

Introduction

Current access arrangements

Supervised rest breaks

Extra time

Readers, reading aloud and reading pens

Accessibility in exams for D/deaf students Research and Analysis Phoebe Surridge | Terminology used in this document: abbreviations and definitions | | --- | | Abbreviations
• Special educational needs and disabilities (SEND)
• British Sign Language (BSL)
• Sign Supported English (SSE)
• Deaf and deaf (D/deaf) | | Definitions
The term ‘Deaf’, with a capital D, is used to refer to those who consider themselves part of the Deaf community or are culturally Deaf (i.e. born into the Deaf community and who engage with Deaf culture) . The term ‘deaf’, with a lower case ‘d’, refers to those with different degrees of hearing loss who may not use BSL or do not consider themselves to be culturally Deaf. The term‘D/deaf’ can be used when referring to both deaf and Deaf individuals (Napier, 2002) .
In the UK, BSL is the first language of around 87,000 Deaf people (Sense, 2022) . For many D/deaf students, English may be considered a second language, with BSL as their first.
BSL is not strongly dependent on or related to spoken English, and it has its own syntax and grammatical structure (British Sign Limited, n.d. ) .
SSE uses signs from BSL but is mapped onto the grammar and syntax of spoken English (British Sign Limited, n.d. ) . | Executive summary D/deaf students are not formally recognised as having special educational needs, yet there is a pattern of underperformance within this group. Many D/deaf students have a co-occurring condition that can result in them having additional needs. This review summarises the key findings around exam accessibility for D/deaf students and identifies areas for future exploration. It is part of a series of literature reviews shaped by Ofqual’s consultation on designing and developing accessible assessments. The other reviews focus on students with learning difficulties, students with visual impairment, students on the autism spectrum, students with different cultural backgrounds, and students with English as an additional language. Introduction While many D/deaf students will have special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), ‘in England around 40% of deaf children aren’t formally identified as having SEN [special educational needs]’ (National Deaf Children’s Society [NDCS], n.d.-b , para. 3) . Various access arrangements, set out by the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ, 2021), are currently available for students with conditions that impact their learning. These include: • supervised rest breaks • extra time • a reader, computer reader, permission to read aloud or an exam reading pen • a scribe or word processor • modified papers • a communication professional • a language modifier • exemptions and other arrangements. O’Neill et al. (2019) highlight the two access arrangements most commonly considered for D/deaf students: the modification of questions into plain English, which they argue is an approach that looks to ‘compensate’ for students’ deafness ; and the use of BSL, which they perceive as recognising students’ linguistic rights. Exam boards check the accessibility of language in all their standard papers , using guidance from the British Association of Teachers of the Deaf ( BATOD; AQA, n.d. ) . This language modification in standard papers aims to improve the accessibility of exams for ‘all candidates with substantial comprehension difficulties , irrespective of the reason for the impairment’ (Ofqual, 2009) . In Scotland, the use of BSL is permitted in exams; a communicator can sign the exam for a student, who then either responds in BSL (with their responses filmed and transcribed after the exam) or writes down their responses. Communicators are allowed to sign technical terms using a list of standardised signs (SQA, n.d. ; O’Neill et al. , 2019) . In England, on the other hand, students can have questions signed to them, but all technical terms must be finger spelt in English and it is rare for students to be allowed t

FAQs

How are ‘Deaf’, ‘deaf’, and ‘D/deaf’ defined in the document?

‘Deaf’ (capital D) refers to people who identify with the Deaf community and culture. ‘deaf’ (lowercase d) refers to different degrees of hearing loss, who may not use BSL or view themselves as culturally Deaf. ‘D/deaf’ is used when referring to both groups together.

What access arrangements are described for D/deaf students?

The document lists supervised rest breaks, extra time, readers and reading technologies, scribes or word processors, modified papers, communication professionals, language modifiers, and exemptions/other arrangements, drawing on JCQ guidance.

How can supervised rest breaks support D/deaf students during exams?

Supervised rest breaks may help because exams can increase reading, writing, and mental processing demands, contributing to concentration (listening) fatigue. The document notes that quieter break areas and reduced background noise can help manage this fatigue, which can also be associated with headaches in some cases.

Oct 20, 2026

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