“Sometimes You Feel Invisible”: Performing Queer/Disabled in the University Classroom

Abstract

This qualitative study explored the classroom experiences of 25 LGBTQ students with disabilities at a research-intensive university. Drawing on critical/postmodern epistemologies and concepts from both queer theory and disability studies, this -article details students’ experiences in the university classroom related to their multiple, intersecting social identities. Students in the study described processes of disclosing identities in classes, managing perceptions of professors and peers, and experiencing and processing microaggressions.     

‘What can I do to help?’: Postsecondary students with learning disabilities' perceptions of instructors' classroom accommodations

This qualitative research report adopts a critical pedagogy perspective to examine the provision of classroom accommodations for postsecondary students with learning disabilities. Although instructors in the United States are bound to abide by disability rights laws, we also believe instructors can act in ways that allow students to feel comfortable in disclosing their disabilities and in requesting and accessing accommodations for these disabilities. We engaged the voices of 10 university students living with learning disabilities through a series of semi‐structured interviews. These students offered a variety of statements on the ways that their disabilities were accommodated or not by their instructors. We classified these perceptions into three kinds of accommodation perceived by university students with learning disabilities: non‐accommodation, formal accommodation and accommodation for all students. We discuss the implications that these types of accommodations have for pedagogy and offer recommendations for effective techniques for accommodating for all. We hope the voices of these students will serve to enhance communication between students with learning disabilities and their professors.     

Barriers to learning online experienced by students with a mental health disability

Online education is widely regarded as increasing accessibility to higher education to individuals with disadvantage and disability, including those with a mental health disability. However, the learning challenges these students experience within the online learning environment are not well understood. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to better understand the barriers to learning that these students face in this environment. A qualitative content analysis of semi-structured interviews conducted with 12 students revealed three major learning barriers: (a) impact of impairment, (b) personal and situational circumstances, and (c) learning environment. These barriers were found to have wide-ranging consequences for the students’ ability to fully engage in study and their overall wellbeing. The findings lend insight into the low retention rates for this cohort of students and the learning barriers that need to be addressed by online education providers to better enhance the educational experience of these students.     

Hidden voices in higher education: inclusive policies and practices in social science and law classrooms

This paper pertains to a broader biographical-narrative research project which studies barriers and support as identified by students with disabilities at a Spanish University (Barriers and Support That Disabled Students Identify in the University. Project funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (Dir. Dr Anabel Moriña; Ref. EDU 2010–16264, 2010–2014)). The present study focuses specifically on barriers and support identified by students with disabilities enrolled in undergraduate programmes in the Social Sciences and Law. The purpose of this paper is to analyse, from the point of view of disabled students (applying the biographic-narrative methodology), which barriers and which support this group encounters in Higher Education. To this end, findings are organised in the following categories: general institutional data; infrastructure, architectural and accessibility-related data; faculty and teaching-related data; data relating to fellow students; and suggestions for improving the university and/or university classrooms. In the Conclusions section, we return to our earlier discussion of key findings which shed some light on how the University helps or hinders learning among participants in the study. From this perspective, taking as a reference the social model of disability, we conclude that in order to be inclusive, the University needs to commit itself to adopting proactive measures that eliminate the barriers that do not permit the learning and the full participation of the students in question.     

Disability,Stigma and Otherness: Perspectives of Parents and Teachers

This qualitative study explored the perspectives of parents and teachers in the US with regard to the meaning and implications of disability in the context of schoolling, and of raising a child with a disability. The findings revealed broad conceptual differences in the perspectives of these two groups. Teachers’ beliefs were generally consistent with medical model perspectives on disability as biologically defined. Parents’ interpretations, more aligned with a sociocultural paradigm, were situated in the cultural meanings ascribed to disability and linked with issues of stigma, marginalisation and access. The findings also revealed the existence of master narratives on families of children with disabilities, entrenched in assumptions of pathological functioning and negative outcomes among these families. Implications for professional–family partnerships in the education of students with disabilities are discussed.     

University student perspectives on institutional non-disclosure of disability and learning challenges: reasons for staying invisible

ABSTRACT

Students with disabilities (SWD) in Australian higher education need to disclose to their institution to access a range of ‘reasonable adjustments’ to support their learning. Nationally, 5.8% of the university population disclose their disability to their institution. It is suspected that there is a much larger population of students who choose non-disclosure, and therefore decide not to access support. Very little is known about the reasons for non-disclosure as this group represents a hidden population in higher education. The research reported here is based on a survey of undergraduate students in one regional Australian university where disability was reframed as ‘learning challenge’. This identified the institutionally non-disclosed group. This research identified that there were sound reasons for non-disclosure, students continually weigh up potential disclosure during their study, and students have difficulty with the disclosure process. We conclude that institutions need to understand that they have an invisible group of non-disclosing SWD in their student populations and that, to meet their learning challenges, universities need to support changes to policies, procedures and curriculum design.     

Settling In: Facilitating the transition to an inclusive middle school for students with mild disabilities

The present qualitative study examined the experiences of nine students with mild disabilities during their first year in an inclusive middle school in a Midwestern state of the United States (US). Data were gathered through interviews with students, teachers, and parents; classroom observations; and document analysis. Following the data analysis, three themes were identified: how the demands of navigating a new environment increased students’ anxiety; how students satisfied their need for belonging; and how students’ perceptions of school influenced their attitude towards help. Suggestions for facilitating school transitions for early adolescents with mild disabilities are provided.     

Inclusive university settings? An analysis from the perspective of students with disabilities / ¿Contextos universitarios inclusivos? Un análisis desde la voz del alumnado con discapacidad

Abstract

This article presents the partial results of a study that analysed the barriers and means of support that students with disabilities find in classrooms and other university settings (offices, departments, libraries, etc.), using the biographical narrative method. The results of this article focus exclusively on the obstacles and means of support identified by humanities students, with the information organized in relation to the institution in general, infrastructures and architectural barriers, lecturers and their teaching methods, fellow students and proposals for improving universities and classrooms. Finally, the conclusion discusses the main findings regarding how the university facilitates or hinders the participants’ learning processes in this study. From this perspective, and taking the social model of disability as a reference, it is concluded that in order to become inclusive, the university must commit to adopting proactive measures that eliminate the barriers preventing these students from learning and from participating fully.     

Adolescent understandings of disability labels and social stigma in school

Frequent discussion in the field of disability research focuses knowledge on rehabilitation for students with disabilities. However, lacking is a focus on student identity development in the face of a highly stigmatizing and stigmatized label. Semi-structured interviews with four freshman males labeled with high incidence disabilities were conducted. The aim of the study was a student-centered discussion of disability knowledge and awareness of stigma. This student-centered discussion is presented in contrast to a body of literature critiqued as stories that are told about people with disabilities by nondisabled researchers and practitioners. Instead, this paper frames students with disabilities as the experts on their own identity. All students were aware of the stigma of their disability label, though each negotiated this stigma differently. The young men conceptualized disability in differing ways. Results suggest students’ deep knowledge, of, and conscious behaviors to avoid disability stigma.     

Higher education inclusivity: when the disability enriches the university

ABSTRACT

This article analyses the perspectives of faculty members on disability in higher education. Their testimonies give value to the attitudes and qualities of university students with disabilities and show how they influence their professional and personal development. We carried out a qualitative study, through interviews with 119 faculty members of different fields from 10 Spanish universities, who were nominated by students with disabilities for developing inclusive pedagogy. We conducted a progressive analysis of the data using a system of categories and codes. The results describe the motivations that drove the participants to respond to the needs of students with disabilities, the personal and professional impact posed by the challenge of adjusting the teaching and learning processes, and the perceptions of the faculty members toward the contributions of these students to the university. In the conclusions section, we delve into the need of universities to embrace inclusivity. The data provided by this study reveal that disability can be a valuable asset in a university context that dissociates from the deficit lens and acknowledges that all students are important and able to learn when the attitudes and conditions are appropriate.     

Integrating Disability: Boomerang Effects when using Positive Media Exemplars to Reduce Disability Prejudice

Individuals with disabilities comprise the largest minority group in the world, yet they are the most underrepresented minority group in higher education, the job market and entertainment media such as literature. This population is often underrepresented because of the overlapping physical, attitudinal and policy barriers that prevent them from participating fully in society. Despite their large numbers, individuals with disabilities not only encounter personalised prejudice, but also experience institutionalised prejudice. In an effort to reduce negative attitudes toward individuals with disabilities, this study examined the effects of positive disability exemplars on people’s attitudes. A comparison between implicit and explicit measures of prejudice found that implicit bias of able-bodied students was more entrenched than explicit biases.     

Difficulties and reasonable adjustments carried out by Spanish faculty members to include students with disabilities

This study focuses on the experience of 20 Spanish faculty members who teach students with disabilities. We conducted semi‐structured individual and group interviews, and analysed the data using an inductive system of categories and codes. The results of this work describe the difficulties that faculty members encountered when including students with disabilities, and how they attended, through reasonable adjustments, to the educational needs of their students. Their testimonies produced a profile of professionals who recognise their own shortcomings while valuing the actions that they have undertaken in order to meet the needs of their students. From their perspective, these actions were more closely linked to their own willingness and the students’ efforts than to the training they had received on disability. In this sense, the present study shows that universities must provide more meaningful training in the field of disability and make firm institutional commitments to supporting their faculty members.     

Voices from Spanish students with disabilities: willpower and effort to survive university

This article analyses the university experiences of 44 students with disabilities. The voices of Spanish students describe the reasons that lead them to choose a given university degree, their transition in the university, the perception they have of themselves as students and how they evaluate their academic results. This study was done with the biographical-narrative methodology using several different data collection techniques, such as narrative interviews, lifelines and photographs. Data analysis was based on an inductive coding system. The results of this study have enabled us to conclude that most of the students chose their degree course because they had a vocation for it, although their disability also influenced their decision. Some students had such a hard time during their first year that they had to change their course of studies. They thought they had to make a stronger effort than the rest of their fellow students, defined themselves as fighters and survivors, and valued this willpower as their main personal asset, above the outcome achieved.     

The Educational Attainment Process Among Adolescents with Disabilities And Children of Parents with Disabilities

This article uses data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 (NLSY97) to examine the relationship between disability, parental and youth university expectations in 1997, and youth high school completion and university enrolment by 2003. Results indicate that educational attainment is not equal for young adults with and without disabilities in the United States. Parents—but not adolescents—are likely to reduce their educational expectations when adolescents have a mild or serious disability, net of school performance. These parental—but not adolescent—expectations are significantly associated with high school completion. Finally, even after controlling for educational expectations and school performance, youth with serious disabilities are much less likely to graduate from high school than youth without disabilities. Despite the considerable strides made in the implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, students with disabilities are not achieving educational parity in graded schooling.     

Transforming support for students with disabilities in UK Higher Education

Intended UK government changes to the Disabled Students’ Allowance will have a significant impact on the support that UK universities provide for students with disabilities. In this article we examine the types of transformation that may be needed to support for university students with disabilities, from a socio‐technical perspective. The research reported in this article involved a year‐long case study in a UK university. The potential changes required to support for students with disabilities within the university studied, to cater for the proposed UK government changes to the Disabled Students’ Allowance, include: providing non‐medical helpers through external agencies; developing a dyslexia screening process; providing enhanced library services, including access to printers and scanners and assistance with assistive software; providing laptops with assistive software; making assistive software available in a limited form in computing laboratories; and more co‐ordinated special examination provision.     

Attitudes of special education teachers towards using technology in inclusive classrooms: a mixed‐methods study

The purpose of this mixed‐methods study was to explore special education teachers’ attitudes towards using technology in inclusive classrooms in Oman. The sample consisted of 428 special education teachers working in Omani public schools (250 teachers of students with learning disabilities (LD), 90 teachers of students with intellectual disability and 88 teachers of students with hearing impairment). Participants responded to the attitudes towards computers questionnaire. For the qualitative section of this study, three semi‐structured group interviews were conducted with a group of special education teachers: 15 teachers of students with hearing impairment, 15 teachers of students with intellectual disabilities and 15 teachers of students with LD). Also, the teachers responded to a survey of educational technology which encompassed seven questions about computer technology. Results of the study indicated that the special education teachers’ attitudes towards using computers were generally positive. The most notable positive attitudes were in the following subscales: special education considerations, staff development considerations, computers use in society, and computers and quality of instruction issues. The analysis of variance results showed that experience and type of disability did not have a significant effect on teachers’ attitudes towards technology.     

Attitudes towards inclusion in higher education in a Portuguese university

In this article, we present data concerning the inclusion of students with disabilities in higher education (HE) at a Portuguese university. This research is part of a wider project designed to understand the trajectories and experiences of students with disabilities at the University of Algarve. This exploratory study raises questions about inclusion and discusses this concept based on the perspectives of academic and non-academic staff. A qualitative approach was used to provide an informative exploration of attitudes towards inclusive education and recommendations for promoting best practices therein. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews. We found positive perceptions of university staff members about the inclusion of the students with disabilities. However, more effort is needed to provide these students with opportunities to continue their academic career in HE and to promote inclusion, personal development and participation in social and economic life. Although inclusive education is on political and educational agendas, the perception of disabilities as deficits prevails. The findings of this study, therefore, reveal that changes must be implemented to effectively adopt the social and educational model of disability.     

The attainment and experiences of disabled students in distance education

In an earlier study of disabled graduates from campus‐based institutions in the UK, students who had previously declared that they had an unseen disability were less likely to obtain good degrees (with first‐class or upper second‐class honours). The present study investigated the role of disability as a factor in the attainment and experiences of 2351 distance‐learning students awarded first degrees by the UK’s Open University in 2002–2003. In contrast to the earlier study, students who had previously declared that they were dyslexic, were deaf or hard of hearing, or had multiple disabilities were also less likely to obtain good degrees. In a self‐report questionnaire, graduates with multiple disabilities provided lower ratings of the quality of their courses and their personal development. Nevertheless, the attainment and overall experience of graduates who reported disabilities that they had not previously declared to the University were similar to those of graduates with no disability.