“Everyone Thought My Library Assistant was My Mum”. Visually Impaired and Blind Students’ Experiences of Interactions with Support and Other Staff in Higher Education

Abstract

This article explores visually impaired (vi) and blind students’ experiences of support as an undergraduate student in UK higher education (he) by focusing specifically on relationships and interactions between vi and blind students and support staff within Higher Education. Participants within this research show how their experiences highlight an uneven and often exclusionary Higher Education landscape. Constructions of disability and impairment show a complex relationship between support provision as it is offered and experienced. The findings overall suggest the experience of support is more than the placing together of student and support worker and concerns the management of this relationship, particularly around underlying assumptions about being vi. Support is not unnecessary or unwelcome, instead, the complexity of the relationship, the additional work associated with support experienced by these students, combine to shape academic experience.

"And BAM. You Have a Connection”: Blind/Partially Blind Students and the Belonging in Academia Model

“…Two studies specifically explored the experiences of blind people in an academic library, focusing on the importance of librarians' empathy for blind students' experiences and on the impact of students' library carrels in providing a second home (Bodaghi et al, 2016;Bodaghi & Ngah, 2013). Croft (2021) described the complexity of relationships between blind/partially blind students and those providing access support. Reed and Curtis (2012) found that blind/partially blind post-secondary students in Canada experience significant social barriers, including social L. Y.…”