Problematizing Disability Disclosure in Higher Education: Shifting Towards a Liberating Humanizing Intersectional Framework

Abstract

Disability disclosure contains significant implications when considering democratic educational opportunities for students with disabilities in higher education. Especially for graduate students with disabilities, there is minimal research on their experiences with disability disclosure. In a collaborative autoethnography, two doctoral students with disabilities engage in a critical dialogue about how disability disclosure operates within everyday interactions. Through dialogue and praxis, our narratives highlight how acts of disability disclosure continuously construct the notion of disability, democracy, citizenship, and empowerment in higher education. In turn, critical reexaminations of disability disclosure may present insight into future directions that will ensure equal educational opportunities, attainment and achievements for all.

Intersecting Identities: A Trioethnographic Exploration of How Disability Studies Informs Our Work as Artists, Educators, and Researchers

“…Autoethnography is situated as a viable method for engaging self-reflection through DS toward CDS, to such an extent, as Pearson and Boskovich (2019) assert, that it "entwines lived experiences, ideologies, and sense of self to tease out alternative understandings about society and culture" (para. 19).…”

“…Engelman (2020) further articulates the connection between autoethnography and the experience of disability through the potential for revealing to readers personal experiences that are often "shrouded in silence," which can cultivate greater empathy between researcher and readers (p. 331). As such, in the past decade researchers of DS and CDS have increasingly turned to autoethnography as a method for engaging in dialogue with the lived experience of disability (Castrodale, 2017;Engleman, 2020;Hernández-Saca & Cannon, 2019;Pearson & Boskovich, 2019). Following Goethals, De Schauwer and Van Hove's (2015) contention that "inclusive, reflexive and anti-essentialist approaches are required for conducting critical and intersectional DS research" (p 76), autoethnography privileges the fluid and complex lived experience of the individual, therefore, situating autoethnography as a viable method for investigating the core attributes of postmodern performativity and intersectionality in CDS.…”

“Things can be tough”: A qualitative analysis of disability disclosure in graduate school.

“…Disclosure of specific types of stigmatized disabilities (e.g., mental illness) during the application process can further harm students’ prospects for admission to graduate programs (Salzer, 2022). While disclosure may advance disability representation overall, it is important to consider these nuances so that resulting disclosure-related policies and practices do not incentivize or mandate students to disclose when doing so could pose potential harm to the student’s well-being (see Pearson & Boskovich, 2019). Understanding students’ contextual perceptions of barriers and facilitators associated with disability disclosure thereby becomes paramount for the development of policies and practices that ultimately support graduate students’ well-being.…”

“…Current practices place the onus of disclosure on individual students, though little is known about how barriers at institution or program-levels may impact this. Previous research highlights the importance of students disclosing as a means for advancing disability representation in graduate schools (Pearson & Boskovich, 2019), but no current studies investigate barriers and facilitators of disclosure or how program-level policies and practices can inform whether students perceive disclosure as being beneficial.…”

Delayed PhD completion: an autoethnographic account of academic ableism

“…Conversely, receiving accommodations from the institution may still result in disabled individuals being treated poorly by their peers and superiors, as the work of Woodfield et al (2020) as well as Olsen et al (2020) demonstrated. Knowing that dis/ability is highly stigmatized in academia means that disabled students and faculty may not feel comfortable disclosing their condition(s) in fear of reprisal (Pearson & Boskovich, 2019). For example, Aubrecht and La Monica (2017) outlined how seeking accommodations as students may have offered more protection than sessional instructors.…”