Disabled and Neurodivergent Postgraduates' Experiences Of Dis/Ableism In UK Universities: Institutional And Embodied Narratives of Belonging

• In Event: AERA Research-in-Progress Roundtable Session 1
  In Invited Roundtable: Understanding the Experiences of Students with Disabilities in Higher Education (Table 4)

Abstract

Context: The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated how change on a grand scale can be rapid and profound. However, enduring positive change for disabled students remains slow, despite growing numbers of students declaring disability. Working as a Study Skills practitioner in the Higher Education (HE) sector I continue to hear students’ frustrations. And, although these accounts are anecdotal, they are common.
Research aims / approach: a qualitative research design, to amplify disabled students’ voices, the study combines Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) of universities’ envisaging of ‘belonging’ in their discursive practices, and a creative methods approach to participatory research with students.
Impact: evidencing of the consequences of institutional discourses on the lived experiences of un/belonging for disabled students.

Author

• Gill Porter, University of Leeds