Given the significance of completing college, the low college graduation rate for students with disabilities, and the effect of support services on students in the general population's ability to complete college, it is essential to understand the link between accessing support and attaining positive postsecondary education outcomes for the wide-ranging population of college students with disabilities. Students with disabilities attend postsecondary education more significantly than ever before, and the literature shows they do not perform as well academically as their peers. Higher education institutes expect students with disabilities to perform academically at the same levels as their non-disabled peers. Therefore, institutions must identify and support them. With graduation completion rates deteriorating throughout higher education, administrators, faculty, and staff are more pressured than ever to meet all students' needs. In response, higher education institutions are developing and restructuring their support services to meet the needs of students with disabilities. Through this study the researcher sought to compare the perceptions of students with disabilities who chose to register with the university’s disability resource center and utilize the accommodations and services they provide and the students who disabilities who chose not to register for these services. A quantitative study was performed using the National Survey of Student Engagement 2021-2022 to identify first year and senior students with disabilities. Multiple choice questions from the survey were analyzed to address each research question. The study compared the students identifying as having a disability and their registration status with the university’s disability resource office. The data from this study provided insight into the perceptions of students with disabilities, and how they feel about MSU’s DRC and utilizing its services and accommodations. Data also provided a comparison of students with disabilities who chose to register with DRC and those who did not in active learning, collaboration with peers, collaborative strategies with faculty, and the facilitation of the students social and emotional well-being and a supportive academic environment on campus by faculty.

Yes / Since the UK’s 2001 Special Educational Needs and Disability Act (SENDA, 2001), academic libraries have had a legal duty to provide all students with information in a form accessible to them, an obligation strengthened by the 2010 Equality Act (c15). Crucially, the latter duty covered readers with all kinds of impairments, not just visual impairment, and thus covers a huge range of needs for an enormous number of individuals. Libraries have put a huge amount of time and effort into providing documents in accessible format (alt-format) but obviously it is preferable for both libraries and readers if the documents are accessible as supplied from the publisher. Electronic resources have the potential to address many of the accessibility needs of our readers, but concerns have been growing in the HE sector (see, for instance, JISCTechdis, 2013) that the way in which e-resources are delivered actually renders them, in some cases, less accessible. This paper describes a project undertaken by the University of Bradford library to systematically assess the accessibility of our electronic resources, and gives recommendations for others wishing to do the same.

The increased number of disabled students in Higher Education (HE) means that they have increased opportunities for study. This means that universities in many countries, including Thailand, must provide Disability Support Services (DSS) for such students. The experiences of disabled students with DSS have been the subject of international research for many years. Although DSS were founded in universities in Thailand over a decade ago, there is little research on DSS and most of this research has focused on large universities in the capital city. This thesis, therefore, seeks to address this gap in the research by investigating the experiences of disabled students in 21 universities in all of the regions of Thailand that have DSS for disabled students attending university. The aim of this study is to explore and analyse the perspectives of disabled students on their experiences with DSS in HE in Thailand. The research objectives include the examination of disabled students’ conceptualisations of DSS, the exploration of disabled students’ experiences of access to DSS, and the exploration of their views on the advantages and disadvantages of DSS. To achieve these objectives, the study uses a mixed-method research approach formed of two stages. In the first stage, a questionnaire was conducted online via a web survey for disabled students with over 203 responses. In the second stage, the study adopted a qualitative approach and data was collected by means of individual in-depth interviews with four disabled students. The research finds that disabled students know about DSS in HE. Some disabled students were familiar with DSS before commencing their studies at university and others only knew about DSS after having commenced their studies at university. In terms of disabled students’ experiences of access to DSS, the findings show that most disabled students use DSS. In particular, they use DSS for help with induction, registration, and enrolment services. In terms of the exploration of disabled students’ experiences of access to DSS, this research shows that the 2 students undertook different procedures for accessing DSS. There are also different time lines for providing services to the students. Additionally, there is dissimilarity between non-open universities and open universities in terms of the services provided by the DSS centre, the learning system, the method of providing services, and the means of the implementation of the services. Regarding the advantages and disadvantages of using DSS, disabled students identified the advantages of DSS in various ways, specifically which DSS are useful for helping them access financial support from their university and for helping them learn and enjoy university life. In addition, some of the students did not experience the advantages of DSS as they did not use the services. They are able to learn without such assistance.

This research project began from an interest in 'what happened' at a residential psychiatric disability support service (therapeutic community) where I had previously worked as a social worker, or, as it was termed in the program, support worker. Residents used the program in various ways, to get back on track with their lives, and workers aimed to support them in that process. My approach to data collection was, as for many social work researchers, qualitative. As my work on the project developed over time, I was consistently informed and re-informed not only by ideas arising from my engagement with participants and relevant literature, but also by new concepts and areas of interest that opened up as a result of my teaching in a progressive Bachelor of Social Work course. Gradually, as my understanding of critical and reflective postmodern social work theory evolved, new interpretations crept into my writing. Some of the tensions that arose as a result of th is overlaying of new conceptual frameworks are evident in the thesis. While I have tried to create internal cohesion, the layers of different approaches that informed me are sometimes evident, like the sides of a canyon that display evidence of its historical and ongoing formation. This may not be dissimilar to social work itself in the new millennium, as new ideas variously challenge, consolidate, destabilise and/or reshape theory and practice. While this thesis began as an exploration of the experiences of individuals in a therapeutic community and the role of support workers in that process, it became, additionally, an exploration of ways in which the role and practice of social work is constructed. However, the stories of participants remain a central feature. Chapters include: the professional gaze and the construction of subjects; problematising worker power and professionalism; boundaries, vulnerability and authority; therapeutic community; sensemaking, meaning ascription and the creation of cul ture; change and turning points; and problematising and exploring outcomes in mental health.

Yes / This paper describes a project undertaken by the University of Bradford library to assess systematically the accessibility of our electronic resources, and gives recommendations for others wishing to do the same with their collections. Since the 2001 Special Educational Needs and Disability Act (SENDA), academic libraries in the UK have had a legal duty to provide all students with information in a form accessible to them, an obligation strengthened by the 2010 Equality Act (c. 15) to include all kinds of impairments, not just visual. The change in information sources from print to electronic has raised further challenges to providing access to information for all library users. Electronic resources have the potential to address many of the accessibility needs of our readers, but concerns have been growing in the higher education sector that the way in which e-resources are delivered can make them less accessible.

The use of technology has become fairly integrated into our personal, educational, and professional lives. Students with disabilities attending postsecondary institutions may require the use of Assistive Technology (AT) for their educational pursuits and access to other technology. This study quantified students' general knowledge of AT and specific knowledge of Dragon NaturallySpeaking software. In addition, this study examined the relationship between disability support services received and current knowledge of AT among students with disabilities in a postsecondary environment. Participants were recruited from those who received disability support services at a midsize university in Illinois. An online survey was administered to 41 participants that included the Prior Knowledge of Assistive Technology Instrument (PKATI). Results indicated that participants' knowledge was influenced by three factors; prior training in AT within a postsecondary institution, access and availability to AT within postsecondary environments, and personal confidence in understanding of AT.

Thesis advisor: Kristen Bottema-Beutel / Many autistic students enrolled in colleges/universities, who are academically qualified for admission, experience difficulties adjusting to their college life. Disability support offices (DSOs) of higher education institutions (HEIs) assume the responsibility of providing supports to autistic students, but many DSOs lack the resources to cater to the varied needs of these students. To gain a nuanced understanding, this set of three studies explores contextual factors around DSOs that may influence autistic students’ experiences with DSOs and their perspectives about available DSO support. In Study 1, DSO websites of 12 US HEIs were examined using multimodal discourse analysis, and the study revealed that DSO websites share genre features with advertisements. DSO websites advertised the services they provide in efforts to ‘brand’ their institution. This commodification of DSO supports raises concerns because accommodations given to students with disabilities should be understood as their legal rights rather than sellable products. In Study 2, a nationwide sample of 153 DSO staff members completed a battery of online surveys to determine significant predictors of their attitudes and knowledge about autism. The quality of previous contact was shown to be associated with social distance, openness, and knowledge about autism, and several institutional variables significantly predicted staff members’ attitudes and knowledge about autism. Lastly, in Study 3, 27 autistic undergraduate students were interviewed about their experiences with DSOs, and their responses were qualitatively analyzed using a generic inductive approach. Students reported on their general perceptions of DSOs, decisions about not receiving DSO supports, and their perception of ways that DSOs could support them better. Together, the findings of the three studies inform the work of DSOs in developing appropriate systems that support autistic students to successfully navigate college. Developing service provision systems that comprehensively address these issues reported by autistic students should be a collective institutional responsibility to increase autism awareness and acceptance on college campuses and make online and physical space accessible for autistic students. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2020. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Teacher Education, Special Education, Curriculum and Instruction.

Students with disabilities at the postsecondary level face a number of different barriers to accommodation use. Past research has shown that students with disabilities that use accommodations obtain greater academic achievement and higher graduation rates. Limited research has been conducted to identify barriers to accommodation use, and the research that has been conducted has not sampled a population that was specifically identified as having faced barriers to accommodation use. By interviewing students with disabilities, who had been identified as having faced barriers, this study identified seven themes. Four of the identified themes were considered complex as they contained sub-themes, while the other three themes were more straightforward and contained no sub-themes. The four complex themes were Desire for Self-Sufficiency, Desire to Avoid Negative Social Reactions, Insufficient Knowledge, and Quality and Usefulness of DSS and Accommodations. The three straightforward themes were Negative Experiences with Professors, Fear of Future Ramifications, and Accommodations are Not Needed. It is hoped that the findings of this study help both disability support service providers and students with disabilities in making better and more informed decisions regarding barriers to accommodation use.

The purpose of this research study was to investigate perceptions and activities of disability support program administrators in Florida community colleges regarding program administration and evaluation. The study further sought to document if any relationships existed between selected organizational and staffing characteristics and the program's ability to follow an established set of standards for program administration and evaluation. A total of 25 disability support administrators (89.3% response rate) completed a phone survey designed for this study. The study revealed that there were many inconsistencies among the higher education disability support programs in regard to programming, staffing and data collecting activities. The common denominator for determining the extent of data collection being performed within the responding community colleges appeared to be the Florida Department of Education, specifically the criteria requested annually by the Division of Community Colleges and Workforce Education. At all of the institutions surveyed, data collection activities were concentrated on numerical student data and did not consistently include program evaluation information. Finally, administrator training in program evaluation was positively associated with the responding disability support program's ability to participate in program evaluation activities. This study concluded with discussion of proposed recommendations for disability support administrators in the Florida community colleges.

Historically, people labelled/with intellectual disability in Canada have received institutionalized forms of care in which they were mistreated, abused, and controlled (Seth et al., 2015; Spagnuolo & Earle, 2017). Today, many people labelled/with intellectual disabilities live within the community and instead receive support from disability support workers in various settings, including within smaller-scale institutions such as group homes, supported independent living arrangements. In some instances, such settings continue to provide institutionalized forms of care (Spagnuolo & Earle, 2017). They may also be in receipt of disability support through involvement with various other community services, including education, employment and recreation. While this shift away from large-scale institutionalization has generally granted a greater level of autonomy for those so labelled than there was previously, the power differential between disability support staff and people labelled/with intellectual disability is such that many problematic support dynamics persist (Sagnuolo & Earle, 2017; Robinson et al., 2022; Antaki et al., 2007). This qualitive co-production project aimed to learn more about what people labelled/with intellectual disability wanted disability support staff to know about the provision of support and did so using a series of focus groups and individual interviews with a participatory component: the co-creation of a series infographics for training of support staff. Thematic analysis revealed two major themes in my data. The first, the ways that support was too often unhelpful or harmful, I broke down into three subthemes: variable treatment, assumptions of (in)capability, and directing or doing for participants leading to neglect of opportunities for skill development. My second theme described what the participants wanted to see from support instead, which also had three sub-themes: respect for boundaries, kind and compassionate treatment, and respect for individuality. My findings and the co-created infographics emphasized the importance of respecting the knowledge that people labelled/with intellectual disabilities have about their own needs, challenging social workers and other professionals to reflect upon their self-perceptions as experts. / Thesis / Master of Social Work (MSW)