Balancing Obligations with Compassion: Successes and Challenges Supporting Individuals with Disabilities in Higher Education Globally

• In Event: Inclusive education policies and higher education

Proposal

The importance of creating equitable education spaces for all has been a call from the United Nations in countless declarations including the most recent Sustainable Development Goals and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. To include all students, universities and higher education institutions need to ensure they are equipped to include and support students with disabilities. Moreover, in considering the evolving nature of technology, AI, and virtual education spaces, university service providers continue to develop understandings and mechanisms for accessibility of persons with disabilities within higher education. However, outside of literature reviews, previous research has looked only at specific university or country contexts to better understand their successes and challenges rather than across contexts (Carballo et al., 2022; McNicholl, et al., 2021; Moriña, 2022; Zorec et al., 2022).
This current study seeks to understand and articulate the facilitators (successes) and barriers (challenges) across the globe by conducting focus groups with practitioners serving students with disabilities (e.g., administrators, program directors, service staff, and faculty) from a variety of university and country contexts and using those findings to articulate the supports to success, the challenges, and the critical research areas for moving this work forward. Furthermore, throughout the analysis, we sought to uncover the supports and actors that have aided in both program and individual student successes. Actor-Network Theory was used as a framework to guide our understanding of the nonhuman actors, such as funding, policies, and technology who contribute and for human actors, including individuals and institutional organizations, who interpret, appropriate, and implement policy (Koyama, 2015). Therefore, we address the following research questions:
• What are the successes in implementing access and inclusion that are experienced by students with disabilities and support providers across multiple university and country contexts?
o What supports actors, or networks provided for this success?
• What are the barriers to providing access and inclusion for students with disabilities across multiple university and country contexts?
Methods
To respond to these questions, a qualitative multi-case study was conducted. The research team used the qualitative methods criteria provided by Brantlinger et al. (2005) which highlights ways for researchers to engage in reflexivity, establish credibility, and maintain validity. The research was reviewed by the Institutional Review Board and given approval in May 2024. Researchers participated in multiple rounds of dialogic engagement about the current procedures for accessing and providing accommodations to students with disabilities in higher education to develop a semi-structured interview protocol focused on three main questions: participant context, their successes, and the challenges they’ve encountered.
Data Collection & Participants
To ensure variation in context, the team held focus groups with four different university case studies across three countries. Specifically, focus groups were conducted with a convenience sampling of practitioners from Southeast Asia, East Asia, and the U.S. who engaged at the Postsecondary Training Institute (PTI) in June of 2024 in Portland, ME. Focus groups were constructed with practitioners from the same university (homogenous to each of the four universities) in the interest of developing a clear understanding of the unique policies and procedures for each. Each focus group lasted approximately one-hour with a priori questions related to context, success, and challenges with follow up probing questions to seek clarification, encourage elaboration, and confirm researcher understanding. Based on the attendees of this institute, these groups ranged in size from two to three participants representing disability support service staff, administrators, psychologists, and faculty. All focus groups represented multiple perspectives and job titles. Three of the international groups were held in-person at PTI and one group of US participants met following PTI on Zoom. The focus groups were transcribed by AI software and were then edited for accuracy and anonymity by the researchers as necessary.
Coding and Analysis
Actor-Network Theory, which acknowledges the people, resources, and entities that can develop and launch programs (Bartlett & Vavrus, 2014; Koyama, 2015), was used to analyze the transcripts for the institutional systems at the higher education level and the actors that are collaborating to provide access and inclusion to postsecondary education. Two of the researchers used Atlas.ti and consensus coding to code all four transcripts and develop initial themes and sub-themes. These are being audited by two additional members of the research team and second level member checks were conducted with participants in September 2024 (Brantlinger, 2005).
Results
Data analysis surfaced three major theme categories related to the a priori organization of the research questions. International and domestic context, understanding the environment in which the Actor-Network Theory events occur, established both unique and common elements across participant settings surfacing the multi-case perspective. Within successes, four larger themes have emerged including student, culture, institution, and program. Student and program successes both includes examples of accommodation decisions related to AT implementation and use. Alternatively, reported challenges mirror inherent characteristics and barriers associated with different disabilities within the cultures of each country and general culture of higher education. Specific examples of challenges were reported around program capacity, faculty knowledge and beliefs, limited societal expectations for individuals with disabilities. Institutions can use the information from the sub-themes of culture, institution, and program to inform their own practice. For example, within the disability support services program, personalized care, accommodations, and the opportunities to support faculty and staff in trainings, meetings, etc. provide support to these successes.
Significance
Apart from literature reviews, previous research has primarily focused on specific university or country contexts to better understand their facilitators and barriers. This research makes an original contribution to the literature by capturing the narratives of triumph and achievement uniquely across multiple university environments to identify the key factors and support structures that contribute to positive outcomes for students, particularly individuals with disabilities. Additionally, this study seeks to identify and examine the barriers encountered by individuals with disabilities in their journey through higher education and transition into competitive employment from participant perspectives. By uncovering these challenges, we hope to inform policy, practice, and research.

Authors

• Melissa Mendoza, Texas Christian University

• Michael Faggella-Luby, Texas Christian University

• Lyman Dukes, University of South Florida

• Joseph Madaus, University of Connecticut