Who Discloses Disability in Land-Based Higher Education—And What Happens After Graduation? A Sector-Level Analysis

Disability disclosure has implications for student experience and graduate outcomes, yet little is known about disclosure in land-based higher education, a sector with distinctive vocational and practical provision. Using aggregated Higher Education Statistics Agency data on first-year enrolments (2015/16–2024/25; 88,430 full-person equivalents [FPEs]) and the Graduate Outcomes Survey (academic years 2017/18–2022/23; 31,275 FPEs eligible graduates, of whom 17,840 FPEs responded), this study examined disclosure patterns and their association with student characteristics and graduate employment, using design-based chi-squared tests and logistic regression with standard errors clustered by provider. Disclosure increased over the period (unadjusted OR for 2024/25 vs. 2015/16 = 2.30, 95% CI 1.92–2.77). Rates were similar in veterinary sciences (18.1%) and agriculture, food and related studies (18.2%). After adjustment, male (OR = 0.81), UK Asian (OR = 0.71) and non-UK-domiciled students (OR = 0.51) had lower odds of disclosure than female and UK White students, whereas male students of Mixed ethnicity had higher odds than UK White female students (OR = 1.31, 95% CI 1.04–1.64). Among survey respondents, the employment rate of graduates with a known disability was 4.9 percentage points lower than that of graduates without (76.6% vs. 81.5%), and 3.6 percentage points lower after adjustment (95% CI 2.0–5.2). As the first sector-level analysis of disability disclosure in land-based higher education, the study shows that disclosure is associated with demographic, institutional and subject characteristics and that, among survey respondents, graduates with a known disability have lower employment rates, highlighting the need for targeted support.