Students with

Disabilities:
Intersectional Motivations
BY E. TUDOR
Accommodations: Not a linear
road
 Research is clear that students who would benefit from removing
academic barriers with accommodations do better with
accommodations.
 Not a mystery at all, well documented in fact:
 Jorgenson, Fichten, Havel, Lamb, James, and Barille (2005),
Gonzalez, Elliot, (2016); Becker, & Palladino. (2016)
 So what is there to research then if this is well known?
In an Ideal World

Students Would Students Seek

Students Do
Benefit from Accommodations
Better in College
Barriers Removed Needed
Reality: Not all Students Seek
Accommodations

Students Would Factors Cause Some

SwD Academic
Benefit from Barriers Students to Not seek
Success Varies
Removed Accommodations
 Diverse Background: Diverse Factors

Identities are the

There are thousands
threads that make
more boxes that could
up the fabric of a
go here that represent
person. Each
other intersections of an
person has unique
individuals identities.
threads that form
the whole picture.
Protective or Risk Factors?
 So which experiences or traits might make a student more willing to seek
accommodations?
 Is the burden to seek accommodations something completely
dependent on a students desire to remove those barriers to their
education? IE: Grit (Hint: it’s not)
 Bias and perceived bias plays a massive role in students seeking
accommodations, these are institutional factors. Jackson, Taylor,
Anderson-Fye, Floersch, (2013).
 Again the institutional research is well documented: What we don’t
know is what makes students seek accommodations despite institutional
barriers?
 Are there protective factors some students carry with them to safeguard
their path to accommodations despite institutional barriers?
 How do students resist against societal and institutional barriers?
Study Design

 Qualitative interview based study with eight to twelve participants in

the four year university setting.
 Participants must already be receiving accommodations from the
university for a period of at least one semester.
 Interviews will be approximately one hour in length.
 Students will be compensated with a fifteen dollar gift card to a
major ethical retailor.
 There will be no ties with any disability services centers present at the
university setting. This means zero advertising at or around the
Disability Resource Center.
Ethical Concerns
Data Details

 Interviews will be recorded with students consent.

 Data will be analyzed using the Dataiku DSS software package
which allows for a seamless blend of cost efficiency, analysis and
coding tools, and data security.
 Themes will be pulled from data once everything is coded.
 Themes will then be the core of the factors that help shape students
decisions to seek accommodations.
 Finally, a paper will be published with
Data Entry
the findings recorded from this research. Data Themes
and Coding
Collected Identified
Process
Themes Likely To Emerge

 As people differ greatly in previous lived experiences, there will be a

variety of themes that travel along intersectional identities.
 For example, a student with less marginalized intersectional identities
might be more likely to seek accommodations from an institutions
as they have likely experienced less institutional oppression in their
lifetimes.
 Students previous experiences with disclosure of disability are also
likely to be impactful on their likelihood to seek accommodations
through an institution.
Limitations

 The large diversity in students means that ultimately not all institutional
barriers will be addressed via the themes gathered from student
responses.
 Barriers may differ at community colleges, private universities, and
public universities.
 This study only looks at barriers at public universities.
 Also this study might not apply well to non-traditionally aged students as
their needs may vary.
 As always, more research on the subject is needed but this is a pivotal
first step.
References

 Stein. (2013). DSS and Accommodations in Higher Education: Perceptions of Students

with Psychological Disabilities. Journal of Postsecondary Education and
Disability, 26(2), 145-161.
 Lyman, Beecher, Griner, Brooks, Call, & Jackson. (2016). What Keeps Students with
Disabilities from Using Accommodations in Postsecondary Education? A Qualitative
Review. Journal of Postsecondary Education and Disability, 29(2), 123-140.
 Jackson, Taylor, Anderson-Fye, & Floersch. (2013). College Student Disclosure of Non-
Apparent Disabilities to Receive Classroom Accommodations. Journal of
Postsecondary Education & Disability, 26(1), 35-51.
 Jorgenson, S., Fichten, C., Havel, A., Lamb, D., James, C., & Barile, M. (2005).
Academic Performance of College Students With and Without Disabilities: An
Archival Study. Canadian Journal of Counselling, 39(2). Retrieved January 25, 2017.
 Becker, & Palladino. (2016). Assessing Faculty Perspectives About Teaching and
Working with Students with Disabilities. Journal of Postsecondary Education and
Disability, 29(1), 65-82.
 Gonzalez, & Elliot. (2016). Faculty Attitudes and Behaviors Towards Student
Veterans. Journal of Postsecondary Education and Disability, 29(1), 35-46.