Validating your access card: Striving beyond equality to equity (or something close enough)

Communication is the heart of all postgraduate study. As such, your chances of survival and success are strongly affected by your facility with English and subsequent relation to the efficiency bottom line. If you are a postgraduate student with a disability or if English is not your first language, your default arrival in the system may be one of disadvantage. However, it doesn’t have to remain this way. As a deaf PhD student of linguistics, I learned a number of strategies to mitigate the upsetting effects of inequitable language access. Some were developed accidentally through making mistakes, others because my supervisor was actively on my side. Some are simple practicalities, others forced me to dive deeply into transformation. All proved to have value. I am sure they will for you too.