Participation in higher education for students with disabilities: an Irish perspective

When digital capital is not enough: reconsidering the digital lives of disabled university students

“…The stigma of dyslexia and disability revealed here in the context of technology use; supports the findings of other non-technology related research, where disabled students have expressed concerns about other students' perceptions of the allowances that were made for them (Mortimore & Crozier, 2006;Fuller et al 2004;Shevlin et al 2004).…”

“…neighbours). The findings in relation to peer support differ from findings in other studies of disabled learners' experiences which found that either disabled students tried to avoid dependency on friends, which exacerbated their sense of social isolation (Shevlin et al 2004) or that support came predominantly from disabled peers (Roer-Strier, 2002). Paradoxically, despite evidence for a fair amount of digital social capital, a significant number of disabled students shared experiences that suggested that they could also experience rather uncomfortable, unsupportive relationships.…”

“…Research reveals for example, that disabled students are using general and specialised technologies to support their learning (Mortimore & Crozier, 2006) but that there are difficulties including: barriers to using publicly available computing facilities due to poor location or lack of specialised software (Fuller et al 2004); frustrations with the bureaucracy and speed of the funding and assessment procedures for obtaining assistive technology (Shevlin et al 2004;Goode, 2007) and lack of support or training to enable disabled learners to become "fluent users" of assistive technologies (Shevlin et al 2004). Whilst these studies reveal some insights into the technological relationships that disabled students have with their universities and associated funding and support mechanisms, they tell us little about the digital nativity of the disabled students and the relationships they have with technologies.…”

Creating, Resisting or Neglecting Change: Exploring the Complexities of Accessible Education for Students with Disabilities

“…As in previous research (e.g., Cook et al, 2009;Riddell et al, 2007;Shevlin, Kenny, & McNeela, 2004;Tinklin et al, 2005a), several negative attitudes were either described or expressed by our participants. For example, individuals in the administrator, instructor, and staff categories (n=4) espoused the idea that accessibility may not be worth the effort or the cost, while participants from the instructor, staff, and student without disabilities groups either argued that accommodations for students with disabilities are unfair to nondisabled others (n=3), or attributed this view to others on campus (n=2).…”

“…So we can accommodate, but we also have to think how much can we accommodate before it becomes something different. (Instructor 4) The issue of perceived disciplinary barriers, which has also been raised in previous research (e.g., Fuller et al, 2004;Riddell et al, 2007;Shevlin et al, 2004;Tinklin et al, 2005a), is especially interesting to consider, as it suggests that -in some cases -accessibility is understood to conflict with elements of disciplinary and academic identities that are seen as fundamental.…”