The Overlooked Crisis: Why Universities Must Accommodate Staff as Well as Students

Author: Brooke Tahir

Higher education prides itself on fostering diversity, equity, and inclusion, well, at least when it comes to students. But what about staff who face the same systemic barriers? For example, lets talk about our Indigenous and disabled employees in academia who are often left out of the conversation, despite experiencing the same financial and institutional struggles as the students they serve.

The Invisible Burden on Indigenous and Disabled Staff

Indigenous and disabled academics bring unique perspectives to their institutions, often acting as mentors, advocates, and cultural bridges for students and their peers. Yet, they frequently navigate hostile personal environments (generational), excessive workloads, and policies that fail to accommodate their needs. For many, the very institutions that claim to support them are the ones exacerbating their struggles.

One major issue is financial precarity. Many Indigenous and disabled staff lack generational wealth, meaning they are more likely to enter academia with student debt, fewer family resources, and higher financial pressures. The added cost of disability in intersectional matters include things like medical bills, mobility aids, specialised transportation, and therapy, further compound this struggle. Unlike their wealthier colleagues, they can’t rely on inherited property, family savings, or safety nets to offset these burdens, in fact they are often helping out their families financially and leaving themselves strained.

The Cost of Inclusion: Health and Financial Strain

While universities celebrate their Indigenous and disabled faculty as symbols of progress, they regularly fail to address the very real sacrifices these staff members make just to be there. Many disabled academics push through chronic pain, mental health struggles, and inaccessible workplaces because they fear repercussions or job insecurity. Indigenous staff often take on additional unpaid emotional labour due to their minority group, serving as cultural advisors and support systems for students and colleagues.

This pressure between their work life and personal life seems to always lead to burnout, worsening health conditions, and ultimately, higher turnover rates for employers. Without proper accommodations, staff are forced to make an impossible choice: sacrifice their well-being or their career progression.

What Needs to Change?

1. Equitable Accommodations for Staff: Disability accommodations should be proactive, not reactive. Universities must normalise remote work, flexible schedules, and assistive technology for staff.

2. Financial Support Beyond Salary: Indigenous and disabled staff need targeted financial assistance, including debt relief programs, research grants, and healthcare subsidies, in Australia we seem to do OK with this, however when it comes to debt relief there seems to be nothing.

3. Recognition of Emotional and Cultural Labour:  For Indigenous academics' consideration of further compensation for the additional work they do in cultural advising should be made. Rather than being expected to provide these niche services for free.

4. Systemic Change, Not Symbolic Representation: It’s not enough to hire Indigenous and disabled staff for diversity optics. Institutions must address systemic pay gaps, promotion disparities, and other inequities.

Universities cannot claim to be inclusive if they refuse to extend the same support to their staff that they offer students. If higher education truly values diversity, it must stop treating its most vulnerable faculty as disposable and leaving vulnerable staff to struggle. This doesn't just go for Indigenous staff, this should be for ALL staff.

Do you think universities are doing enough to support their Indigenous, vulnerable and disabled staff? Let’s talk about it.