Navigating Post-Secondary Institutions in Ontario with a Learning Disability: The Pursuit of Accommodations

Abstract

Students with learning disabilities (LDs) face numerous challenges as they navigate their way through post-secondary institutions in Ontario. Through an institutional ethnographic analysis, this paper contextualizes my lived experience of having an LD within the ruling relations in postsecondary institutions in the current neoliberal environment. Institutional ethnography is both a theory and a method of interpreting everyday social interactions through analysis of the texts (broadly defined) in modern society, such as policy documents, newspapers, and electronic media. As such, this method lends itself to understanding the medicalization of LDs because it demonstrates that expert knowledge is ideological. Using a social model of disability, I compared both the documentation on attaining accommodations and my lived experience at three universities that I attended and am attending. In evaluating how students negotiate the pathways within the power relations and social organization of these institutions, I am able to offer precise and constructive recommendations that would improve the experience and academic outcomes for students with LDs. Keywords learning disabilities, post-secondary institutions, ruling relations, accommodationsMcKenzie, "The pursuit of accommodations" CJDS 4.1 (January 2015) 36 Navigating post-secondary institutions in Ontario with a learning disability:The pursuit of accommodations that vary from moderate to severe. Of these students, nearly 48% are women and 37% are men.Among those students attending university, only 3% go on to post-graduate studies (HRSDC, 2010). The number of LD students who are successful in post-secondary education is low, and the gap continues to widen between disabled and non-disabled students, particularly at the graduate level (Getzel, 2008).Through an institutional ethnographic analysis, this paper contextualizes my lived experience of having an LD within the ruling relations in post-secondary institutions in the current neoliberal environment. Dorothy Smith (1974a) defines "ruling relations" as the "total complex of activities differentiated into many spheres, by which our kind of society is ruled, managed, administrated" (p. 8). Canada's turn to neoliberalism since the 1970s is reflected in most institutions, including post-secondary institutions, which allows for the colonization of wide aspects of the social order by a market and economic mentality (Brodie, 1999; Connell, 1 The terms "disability" and "learning disability (LD)" will be used interchangeably because both experience oppression and may require accommodation in the post-secondary educational setting.McKenzie, "The pursuit of accommodations" CJDS 4.1 (January 2015)

Moving the Needle on Ableism: From Higher Education Access to Inclusion

“…PSIs, though, have a responsibility to ensure the students they admit are successful and can participate fully in all aspects of life on campus (Pidgeon, 2008;Weingarten, 2021). Access to diagnosis is often inextricably linked to race and socioeconomic privilege (Hutcheon & Wolbring, 2012;McKenzie, 2015), limiting access to critical student services and further increasing the negative impacts on educational outcomes. Even when students can access accommodations, the onus is largely on them to initiate them (Hutcheon & Wolbring, 2012;Kendall, 2016;Lechtenberger et al, 2012), which adds to their mental load.…”

“…Unfortunately, to access these supports in the first place, students must be able to prove how their disability impacts their academic functioning, with poor performance not being considered "a sufficient basis for receiving accommodations at university" (Parsons et al, 2021, p. 52). Most accessibility service offices operate under the medical model of disability (Geyer, 2021;Hutcheon & Wolbring, 2012;McKenzie, 2015), which pathologizes difference and creates a hierarchy of need in its attempts deliver as services to as many people as possible (Geyer, 2021;Seifert & Burrow, 2013). Furthermore, assumptions about what constitutes a functional limitation are inherently underpinned by ableist norms (Hutcheon & Wolbring, 2012) in the context of neoliberal present in higher education, where productivity is seen as the ultimate marker of success.…”

“…Increased access to postsecondary is largely seen as positive, but increasingly diverse student groups in record numbers increase demands on a system that is already strained. Despite recent legislation and resulting institutional policies mandating the inclusion of disabled students, there has been little coordination between institutions and government guiding the implementation of such policies (McKenzie, 2015). Particularly in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, needs are higher than current resource levels can accommodate (Adler et al, 2022), which puts strain on several institutional actors, including accessibility service offices, course instructors, administration, and not least of all, students themselves (Parsons et al, 2021).…”

“…While new legislation in recent decades has increased access to postsecondary education for diverse student populations, many students from historically marginalized groups still face barriers to inclusion (Fleming et al, 2017;Jones et al, 2020;Pidgeon, 2008). Disability is still frequently absent from broader conversations of equity, diversity, and inclusion, as well as social justice discourses (Elmore et al, 2018), and disabled students experience frequent and persistent barriers to academic success and social integration (Fleming et al, 2017;Hardy Cox & Strange, 2016;Hutcheon & Wolbring, 2012;Kendall, 2016;Lechtenberger et al, 2012;McGrath, 2010;McKenzie, 2015;Strange, 2010). Ignagni (2022) contests that when we do not articulate disability, we make disabled students, staff, and faculty disappear.…”