The problem of the physically handicapped and architectural barriers has been a growing international, national, and University concern. Handicapped citizens are frequently "walled out" of public buildings because of thoughtlessness of the design. The handicapped have the right of access to public buildings. Because Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University is a public university, in fact and tradition, it has a responsibility to assure the accessibility of the campus to all who wish to use it. The first step in remedying the access problem at the university level would be to inventory the architectural barriers in the campus buildings and on the University site and access the current status of other factors effecting access at the University. The purpose of this study was to examine the problem of access and the handicapped at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University through these four research questions: 1. What was the current status of the problem of architectural barriers within the facilities of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University? 2. What was the extent of the activity, either proposed or in progress, for relieving the existing architectural barriers within Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University? 3. What was the extent of activity designed to prevent architectural barriers in future construction of University facilities? 4. What were the activities or programs which would be appropriate to provide for the removal of architectural barriers within current and future facilities of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University? The study developed the data to answer these questions through three research methods. First, an architectural survey form was developed from existing forms, architectural specifications, and related literature. This survey form was used to inventory the architectural barriers in fifty-one academic and administrative buildings on the University's main campus. The second method involved contacting handicapped students and staff in order to obtain their viewpoint concerning problems associated with access at the University. The contact was made by a mailed questionnaire and through personal interviews. The third method involved interviewing various members of the University administrative staff to determine the experience and perceptions of administrative staff concerning problems of access. Secondary purposes of these interviews were to determine if funds would be available to support the process of making the University accessible. It was found that the University was not generally accessible to handicapped persons. No building on the campus complied with current National or state access standards. No local organization or person had the responsibility to assure a barrier-free campus. Funds for removing campus barriers were non-existent and few discretionary funds could be used for this purpose. The single activity directed toward removal of architectural barriers on the campus was the development of an Ad Hoc Committee of the University Faculty Senate to study the problem. The study concluded with several recommendations in the areas of policy and architectural and site alterations. The primary implication for further research was directed toward defining the characteristics of Virginia's and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University's handicapped population and to use this data to determine wny the University's handicapped population was so low. / Ed. D.

For this phenomenological study, thirteen participants from two private universities, located in the western region of the United States shared their lived experiences of being a college student who does not request accommodations. The author used recursive analysis to analyze qualitative data from semistructured interviews. Initial codes were combined to create interconnected families of codes. A second level of analysis resulted in seven spaces in which participants described their lived experiences. Findings suggest participants experience various tensions, ranging from incompatible options to competing perspectives, as they negotiate their identify and environment. including the principle of opportunity cost. Recommendations for college administrators and faculty, including Universal Design in higher education are included.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the extent of Prince George's Community College faculty knowledge of the legal issues, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, The Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990, and recent court decisions, related to the provision of classroom accommodations for students with disabilities at the postsecondary level. The focus of the study was to determine if a difference existed between the knowledge of full-time and part-time faculty. Part-time faculty comprise over 50 % of the instructional staffs at most community colleges and are considered an integral part of their institutions, yet they are offered little opportunity for professional development. The variables of gender, department affiliation, teaching at more than one institution, number of years of teaching experience, number of students taught with a disability, and number of individuals known with a disability also were reviewed. Data were collected through a questionnaire distributed to 158 faculty members at the college. Twenty-nine packets were returned as undeliverable. Of the 129 deliverable packets, 57 were returned for a response rate of 44.2%. Results from the analysis of data indicated that faculty have very limited knowledge of the legal issues concerning students with disabilities. Only 26.9% of respondents scored at an acceptable level of knowledge. Additional analysis suggested no relationship existed between faculty knowledge and gender, faculty status (full-time and part-time), department affiliation, teaching at more than one institution, number of years of teaching experience, or number of individuals known with a disability. A relationship was found at the p < .05 level of significant between faculty knowledge and number of students taught with a disability. Faculty who scored in the acceptable range had a mean score of 24 or more students taught with a disability. Faculty scoring in the unacceptable range had a mean score of 11 students taught with a disability.

Understanding how students endorse affirmative consent in their sexual relationships is essential to sexual violence prevention. Some research has indicated that LGBT students and students with disabilities may negotiate and endorse consent uniquely because of socially constructed traditional sexual scripts. Research indicates gender differences may exist as well. The proposed research examines differences based on gender, LGBT status, and disability in affirmative consent endorsement and peer norms around sexual violence. Results indicated that women, nonbinary students, LGBT students, and students with disabilities were significantly less likely than their privileged counterparts to indicate low endorsement of affirmative consent. Results also indicated that women and some LGBT students are significantly less likely than their privileged counterparts to indicate high peer norms supporting sexual violence. Limitations, implications, and future directions are discussed.

Students with learning disabilities have been attending postsecondary education in increasing numbers since the early 1990’s. Improvements in secondary education services, legal rights to reasonable accommodations, and college services for these students have been credited with this increase (Browning, 1997; Flexer, Simmons, Luft, & Baer, 2005; Hallahan & Kauffman, 2006; PL 93-12, Wilkinson & Rund, 2000). Legal mandates have stressed that secondary service providers must create services that prepare these students for adult life and postsecondary education options (Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act, 2004). This study examined the perspective of secondary teachers/administrators and postsecondary service providers in Indiana to determine their awareness and perception of key skills related to postsecondary success for students with learning disabilities in institutions of higher education. Factors examined were related to academic, social, self-determination/advocacy, and emotional readiness. / Department of Special Education

No description available.

The purpose of this study was to identify the characteristics of special needs students in technical educational programs.

Thesis (Ph. D. (Educational Psychology)) -- University of Limpopo, 2016 / For the past two to three decades, there has been a large influx of students with disabilities into institutions of higher education worldwide. In South Africa, in these past three decades, records of intake of students with disabilities were not recorded as services and support of this kind were not institutionalised. Within this transformation process, which involved including previously under-represented groups, institutions of higher learning are currently facing challenges of what kind of educational support to offer to students with disabilities, in order to help them to succeed academically. This study investigated the educational support offered to students with disabilities at the University of Venda (UNIVEN) as experienced by the students themselves. The study, therefore, gives an insider perspective. The study followed a qualitative research approach, and used classroom observations, document analysis and focus group interviews to collect data. Ten students with various disabilities participated in the study. The findings of this study reveal that there are some degrees of support that UNIVEN offers. However, some gaps to meet students educational needs still exist. These gaps include lack of information about the programmes that UNIVEN is offering, physical infra-structure barriers and lack of disability knowledge. This study recommends the establishment of a forum in which students with disabilities can discuss and address their educational needs on campus. Other recommendations include the following: lecturers’ training, disability awareness, the installation of an online interactive portal to increase communication between students and the university, and an online survey measuring lecturers’ attitudes and knowledge. The study suggests that future research could include factors that predict graduation rates among students with disabilities. Key words: Educational support, Disability unit, Medical Model of disability, Social model of disability.

The problem of this study was to determine if career awareness groups which use Guided Imagery (GI) and the California Occupational Preference System (COPS), both individually and in combination, have a positive effect on career attitude maturity, oi* disabled college students as measured by the Career Maturity Inventory Attitude Scale (CMI-A). This study involved three experimental groups (GI, COPS, & GI-COPS) and a control group. Participants included thirty-two volunteer disabled college students attending four community colleges in an urban area in the Southwest (Texas). There were eight volunteers per campus, and each campus constituted a group. Each group met once for 120 minutes. After consent was obtained, subjects completed the CMI-A. The general sequence was: introduction; instructions specific to the group condition; presentation of assigned stimulus condition; group discussion of reactions to the presented stimulus; control group members completed the post administration of the CMI-A; and group members' completion of the post administration of the CMI-A, with the exception of the control group which discussed reactions to the presented stimulus.

Thesis (Ph.D. (Community and Continuing Education)) -- University of Limpopo, 2020 / Access and support for students with disabilities remain limited despite strong legislative and policy framework for addressing inclusivity in the education sector. Presently, TVET colleges encounter severe obstacles and hiccups in that they must improve the quality of education provided together with other compulsory obligations. As a result, TVET col-leges continue to encounter challenges as and when they try to improve the quality of education. In South Africa, the integration of people with disabilities has been an ongoing process since the advent of the democratic government. The study investigated the inte-gration of inclusive practices for students with disabilities at Technical and Vocational Edu-cation and Training (TVET) colleges. The study followed the qualitative research ap-proach. The purposive sampling technique was used to select participants. Twenty-seven participants took part in the study. Participants comprised campus man-agers, HoDs, student support officers, lecturers and students with disabilities. Two differ-ent methods to analyse data were used, namely, thematic categorisation (for interviews and observations) and content analysis (for documents). The study is premised on the social model of disability and Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological system theory to understand participants’ views and how they carry out inclusive practices in their lecture rooms. Data was collected using three techniques, namely, interviews, observations and document analysis. The findings of the study revealed the following: lecturers at TVET colleges are struggling to support students with disabilities due to lack of training on different types of disabilities; students with disabilities are given access to certain types of training based on the nature of their disability; students who experience mobility disabilities are faced with challenges of inaccessible of physical environments; the curriculum at TVET col-leges does not fully cater for a range of diverse needs of and students with impairments. The study recommends that: lecturers require training on different types of disabilities in order to support students with diverse learning needs; the involvement of disabled stu-dents in the planning of their support programmes; all stakeholders be encouraged to appreciate change and to contribute towards meaningful inclusive practices.