Inclusive Universe: Representations of the College Experience From Postsecondary Students With Intellectual Disability

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 17
  In Roundtable Session: Disability Studies Perspectives in Higher Education

Abstract

This paper examines how students with Intellectual Disability labels create agency for themselves by crafting autobiographical representations of their college experiences. Within the theoretical frameworks of critical disability theory and New Literacy Studies, this study explores the following research questions: (a) How do college students with Intellectual Disability negotiate and co-construct their identities when given the space and tools and authority to do so?; (b) In what ways do students with Intellectual Disability represent their experiences in school?; (c) What are some issues of inclusion and barriers to full participation in the college experience that students identify?; and (c) What purposes can be served through autobiographical inquiry in this context?

Author

• Beth Myers, Syracuse University