Education Commons^™

Challenging Norms, Creating Art: An Anti-Ableist Lens On Visual Arts Education, Alexis Lino

Education | Master's Theses

This research explored the active role of disabled artists in their own descriptions of meaning making through their artistic process, utilizing phenomenological research to examine the lived experiences of intellectually or developmentally disabled and neurodiverse adult artists in the Bay Area. The literary study element of the research strove to understand and employ anti-ableism and constructivism as framing lenses, while also reviewing literature on issues such as access barriers, traditional quality standards in arts education, and the de-emphasis of art within curriculum funding priorities, indicating a need for continued reform toward promoting inclusive and process-oriented art education. With a focus …

Supporting Students With Autism Spectrum Disorder And Neurodivergence: University Of San Diego Accommodations And Resources, Carina Mendoza

M.A. in Higher Education Leadership: Action Research Projects

This research focuses on better understanding the unique classroom experiences faced by autistic and neurodiverse students at the University of San Diego (USD) and offers recommendations to improve their college experience. Through a well-studied literature review and data collection through semi structured interviews and focus groups, the overall goal was to have a more holistic understanding of the current support services from faculty and staff that are available for students at USD. The study will provide unique challenges and curated recommendations for students with autism spectrum disorder and neurodiverse identities. This research also identifies specific areas where the USD can …

Sexual Wellness Across Abilities: Reimagining Education For Adults With Disabilities, Damiana Kelsey

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Many adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDDs) lack sexuality education and opportunities for personal expression. Because of this, a sexuality education curriculum was developed for Gateway’s program, Without Walls. This program is specifically for adults with Intellectual Disabilities. This curriculum was delivered to 15 students ages 25 to 56. The purpose of this project is to bridge information for this population and make it more accessible. Especially with this group, there is a need for further discussion and a space to ask questions about social-emotional and sexual health. Over the course of 11 classes, the students reported having a …

Waiting On The World (Of Allied Healthcare) To Change: How Undergraduate Preparedness Curriculum Dis/Includes Ability, Brianna Donnelly

West Chester University Doctoral Projects

Significant concerns for healthcare practitioners and allied health professionals continue to arise regarding treatment of persons with disabilities. Whether disability exists as apparent or non-apparent, temporary, or chronic, people with disabilities tend to be in poorer health and tend to use health care at a significantly higher rate than people who do not have disabilities. Importantly, the absence of professional training on disability competency issues for health care practitioners is one of the most significant barriers that prevent people with disabilities from receiving appropriate and effective health care. This qualitative narrative analysis explores the inclusion of disability concepts and people …

On-Campus Mental Health Service Use Among College Students With Autism: A Case Study Applying The Andersen Behavioral Model Of Health Services Use, Estella C. Lilyquist

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The unique set of impairments and limitations presented by students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) make the accessing of campus-based nonacademic resources more difficult and complicated than their typically developed peers. Each year, the rate of students entering college with disabilities continues to grow, but their mental well-being is relatively poor. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to apply the conceptual framework of the Andersen behavioral model of health services use (ABMHSU) to the experiences of college students with ASD to understand and predict their utilization of campus-provided mental health resources. The participants were seven college students with …

Special Education: Inclusion And Exclusion In The K-12 U.S. Educational System, Erik Brault

Dissertations

The U.S. Department of Education defines students with disabilities as those having a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more life activities. Previous research has found that students with disabilities placed in inclusive environments perform better academically and socially compared to students with disabilities who are placed in segregated environments. Yet, we know that inclusion in K-12 general education classrooms across the country is not consistently implemented.

The purpose of this study was to better understand the effects, if any, of general education high school teachers’ personal and professional experiences and knowledge on their attitudes toward educating …

Ableism, Ableist Microaggressions, And Psychological Thriving: A Mixed-Methods Study Of College Students With Physical Disabilities, Tonya Barnhill Dawsey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Microaggressions are daily insults to individuals that communicate messages of exclusion, inferiority, and abnormality. The term microaggression was originally used to explain the experiences of racial minorities. This term has also been used to explain the experiences of other individuals with oppressed identities. More recently, the term ableist microaggression has been used to describe these types of experiences for individuals with disabilities. Like other oppressed groups, individuals with disabilities experience ableism through interpersonal discrimination which is often delivered in a subtle, ambiguous, and unintentional manner that is difficult to address. Qualitative studies in the field of education and disability studies …

A Discourse Analysis Of Parents' And Teachers' Social Constructions Of School Readiness And Transition To Kindergarten For Children With Disabilities, Ronica Senores Toyota

Education (PhD) Dissertations

This study examined parents’ and teachers’ social constructions of disability, school readiness, and the transition to kindergarten process for children with disabilities who participated in a self-contained preschool special education (SPED) class, called a special day class (SDC). The 12 participants included parents of children with disabilities (i.e., three with autism and one with Down syndrome), four preschool SDC teachers, two kindergarten SDC teachers, and two general education kindergarten teachers. They were recruited from a large urban school district in Southern California. Semistructured interviews were conducted to invite participants to share their experiences working with students with disabilities and their …

Hiv Stalks Bodies Like Mine: An Autoethnography Of Self-Disclosure, Stigmatized Identity, And (In)Visibility In Queer Lived Experience, Steven Ryder

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines self-disclosure of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) status within the context of communication between long-standing friends. For the purposes of my study, I define this type of friendship as those who have known me for at least two years and with whom I communicate regularly. These are friends who tend to know a variety of personal details about me, ranging from superficial to private and trivial to essential. I use autoethnography to ground the study in my lived experience. By doing so, I present intimate accounts of my communication with others across my lifespan to function as background …

The Gendered, Racialized, & Dis/Abled Experiences Of Neurodivergent Black Women Graduate Students Across Higher Education, Kat Stephens

Doctoral Dissertations

Black women graduate students with dis/abilities; those identifying as neurodivergent are scarce in contemporary research. Throughout widespread disability studies, research, and the research on neurodiversity, this lack is consistent regarding minoritized race and gender groupings (Matthews, 2019; Strong et al., 2020). Larger neurodivergent, ADHD, and Autism conversations tend to skew toward White boys and men (Travers, 2018). The convergence of disability (race, gender, and place/space) as another marginalized community and diverse student population, is an additional gap in the literature, despite the benefits of DisCrit (Annamma et al., 2013). Black women graduate students with disabilities, specifically those identifying as neurodivergent …

School Resource Officers' Reports Of Training And Perceptions Of High School Students With Disabilities, Kandace T. Jones

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of this explanatory sequential, mixed methods research study was to identify the perceptions of school resource officers (SROs) regarding high school students with disabilities and their preparedness to work with this population, as a result of their SRO training. This study involved a national quantitative survey of SROs working in public high schools, followed by one-on-one interviews from the same sample to allow for a deeper analysis of the survey results and develop a theory on how training impacts SRO preparedness and their perceptions of high school students with disabilities. The resulting theory ascertained that the presence of …

Exploring The Motivations Of College Students With Adhd To Disclose Their Disability And Use Accommodations, Carol M. Haynes-Buchanan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

College enrollment numbers reflect that the admission rates of students with disabilities are increasing as time progresses (Newman et al., 2020). Despite this spike in college attendance, degree completion rates of students with disabilities (SWD) are significantly lower than their nondisabled peers (DuPaul et al., 2018). This disparity was addressed via laws and regulations geared towards higher education institutions to level the playing field for SWD through providing services and support. This study aimed to explore what motivates SWD to disclose their disability and to accept or decline accommodations in the university setting. Students and faculty at a Texas private …

Adults Perspectives Of Friendships And Social Interaction Between Students With And Without Complex Support Needs During A Pandemic, Jorden Morales

Special Education ETDs

Social interactions and friendships are important for all individuals including those with complex support needs (CSN). The voices of adults including parents/guardians, primary caregivers, teachers, and related service providers who responded to a survey provided insight into supporting social interactions and friendships for children with CSN during the Covid-19 pandemic This mixed methods study used thematic analysis to explore participants’ responses to open-ended questions while multiple choice questions were analyzed through descriptive statistics. Additionally, this study included a research narrative to speak to the various roles I hold related to this study (i.e., parent, educator, researcher). Three themes emerged from …

Coronavirus Disability Survey: Assessing The Impact Of Covid-19 On Young Adults With Disabilities, Hena Rashid

Student Research Submissions

This paper seeks to inform individuals of the importance of digital inclusivity, diminish the digital divide, and accessibility to technological services of college students who experience a form of disability. The United States has conducted minimal research on the digital disability rhetoric, promoted minimal disability-inclusive measures to protect the rights and well-being of college students, and minimal assistance to mitigate Coronavirus (COVID-19) impacts to this population subgroup. This subject can have a big impact on individuals who suffer from disability stigma, low accessibility issues, and who have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic. Furthermore, this subject will benefit college students …

Inclusive Pedagogy: Connecting Disability And Race In Higher Education, Meredith Persin

All Theses

Higher education was never made for marginalized people. The academy was created based on the privileged white, able-bodied, males who preoccupied higher education for the longest time. While that has certainly changed over the years, the institution itself is still in the past resulting in BIPOC students and disabled students continuing to struggle within higher education. While instructors have begun to take interest in the need for inclusive pedagogy within the last decade, it still has a far way to come in order to help the marginalized students with intersecting identities and students who may not benefit from a one …

Assessing Perceptions Of Disability Knowledge Of Campus Police At Inclusive Universities, Hannah Shultz

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The purpose of this study is to analyze the perception of knowledge of campus police on intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD), including autism, in inclusive college programs. A survey was sent to both campus police and representatives of 50 inclusive higher education programs across the United States. These questions involved perceptions of campus police knowledge, training, and the safety of students with I/DD.

Assessing Professionals Working With Latinx Families With Special Needs In Monterey County, Jose Francisco Hernandez Rivera

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Special Kids Connect (SKC) is a nonprofit organization serving children with disabilities and their families in Monterey County. This capstone project concentrated on the professionals working with children as part of SKC’s Early Start Intervention Program. The project’s objective was to discover local agencies' professional development training needs that serve Latinx families with disabled children between 2 to 8 years. Seventy-five child-care providers, early intervention service professionals, regional center staff, and school district personnel responded to the survey. They indicated an overall 60 % needed an understanding of systems related to IEPs, Early Start Services, Developmental Screenings, Social-Emotional Screenings, Regional …

La Discapacidad En Los Sistemas De Educación En Bolivia Y Chile, Kree Pace

Student Research Submissions

The flawed approach to the education of disabled students is an issue that plagues countless countries across the globe, and those in Latin America are no different. Bolivia and Chile are two vastly different countries from a cultural and economic perspective. However, one issue that they have in common is the manner in which they attempt to teach disabled students. There are two major models of disability; social and medical. The social model teaches that disabilities are not inherently negative traits to have, and that those who have them should be supported by society. It also emphasizes that the organization …

The Moderating Effects Of Disability On The Relationship Between Job Embeddedness And Turnover Intention Among Veterans, Beverly Maier

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Nearly 26% of American adults have a disability. The goal of vocational rehabilitation for individuals with disabilities is to participate in the labor market and improve their quality of life. Employment is an excellent community reintegration. The U.S. Department of Labor reported that in 2020, a total of 4.7 million veterans received a rating of the service-connected disability from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) or the U.S. Department of Defense. The unemployment rate for veterans with a disability is 6.2%, which is not a significant difference from the unemployment rate of 7.2% for veterans without a disability. According to …

Facultas Marginem: Assessing Disability Data And Public Aau Universities’ Affirmative Action Plans For Systemic Barriers Facing Faculty With Disabilities, Joseph Carlton Barry

Theses and Dissertations--Education Sciences

This dissertation contributes to education equity scholarship produced by academics seeking to develop understandings of disability, Persons with Disabilities (PWD), and how both are situated amongst faculty in institutions of higher education. As such, this dissertation centers on a study of public US universities belonging to the Association of American Universities (AAU). This study looks for institutional level associations between respective rates by which college and university faculty with disabilities (FWD) are employed, certain aspects of disability policy drawn from each institution’s 2020 Affirmative Action Plans (AAP), and various other instances of empirical disability data (EDD).

While this study contributes …

A Cord Of Many Strands: A Case Study Of Inclusive Practice Within The Archdiocese Of Los Angeles, Patrick James Allison

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

The foundational philosophy of Catholic schools impels them toward inclusive practice. Scholars have repeatedly established that a moral mandate exists in Catholic Social Teaching for Catholic schools to include all students. However, students with disabilities have traditionally been excluded from Catholic school settings due perceived resource constraints, lack of practitioner skill, and the disposition that students with disabilities are better served in public schools. Many Catholic schools have made tremendous progress in inclusive practice, and stand at the forefront of this work, but these efforts have not been replicated at scale.

The purpose of this study was to explore how …

Supported Employment Services And Employment Outcomes For Low-Income Youth With Intellectual And Developmental Disabilities: A Case Control Study, Hannah Seward Phd

Theses and Dissertations

Transition-age youth, ages 14-24 years old, with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) face unique barriers to entering the labor force when exiting high school. These barriers can be even more severe if the youth is from a low-income background. Supported employment (SE) services may help this population overcome these barriers and be employed in competitive integrated employment (CIE) settings. SE provides an employment specialist to guide them through obtaining and retaining a job (McDonough & Whittenburg, 2020; Wehman et al., 2007). However, limited research has been done on the SE experiences and outcomes of transition-age youth with IDD (Wehman et …

Exploring Tactile Art-Making With Deafblind Students And Their Families: An Opportunity For Creative Play, Alice Rodgers

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

The impact of a deafblind diagnosis on an individual’s mental health and the well-being of the family involved can be profound. However, current research and available literature for the mental health treatment and therapy practices of deafblind persons and their families is limited (Kyzar et al., 2016; “WFDB Global Report 2018,” n.d.). This thesis used the Leeds Family Psychology and Therapy Service principles (Leeds FPTS) and the Expressive Therapies Continuum with established deafblind teaching strategies to facilitate an original arts-based community project entitled: “Things We Like.” This project provided an opportunity for deafblind students (ages three to 22) and their …

The Effects Of Parent Training And Information Centers On Parent Empowerment, Hayden A. O. Lewis

Ed.D. Dissertations

Parents of children who receive special education services from the public school are considered equal partners in their child’s education with school professionals on the Individual Education Program team. Each state has a Parent Training and Information Center (PTIC) that seeks to empower parents to fulfill their right as an equal partner. The current study compared the advocacy, knowledge, competence, self-efficacy, and empowerment of two groups of parents of children with disabilities who received special education services in Tennessee. The experimental group of parents (n=36) had attended a workshop provided by a PTIC and the control group (n=21) had not …

An Exploration Of The Experiences Of Faculty With Disabilities In A Research University In The South, Gonzalo Camp

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

While diversity and inclusion has become a benchmark for universities all around the country, faculty with disabilities remain in the margins of higher education discourse and are a neglected population across the spectrum of academia. This thesis aims at exploring the experiences of faculty with disabilities at a specific research 1 university in the South. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with five faculty members who self-identify as having a disability. Four themes emerged from this study: able-bodied lens, fear, social isolation, and coping mechanisms. Building on the existing literature, these findings offer new information to expand the knowledge on the challenges …

Parent Perceptions Of The Acceptability, Effectiveness, And Experience Of Engaging In The Group Stepping Stones Triple P Intervention For Parents Of Children With Disabilities, Tara B. Delach

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The challenges associated with parenting are often compounded for parents of children with developmental disabilities. Children with developmental disabilities are at increased risk for exhibiting mental health concerns and challenging behavior compared to their typically developing peers. Parents who are raising a child with a disability tend to experience increased demands, higher levels of stress, and greater challenges associated with the physical, emotional, and behavioral needs of their children than do parents of typically developing children. Parent training interventions grounded in social learning theory and behavioral principles have proven to be effective in improving both child and parent outcomes in …

The Lived Experiences Of People With Disabilities And Their Families: Transitioning To Adulthood And The Role Of Independent Facilitation, Emily Christine Tang

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

ABSTRACT

Objective

Emerging adulthood can be a stressful life stage due to the many life choices available and is especially challenging for emerging adults with disabilities (EADs) who face additional barriers in accessing supports and information regarding adult opportunities. This qualitative study investigated the experiences of transitioning to adulthood, and the role of a person-directed facilitation service, for EADs and their families.

Methods

Fourteen participants were recruited through purposeful and convenience sampling. Data collection procedures consisted of background questionnaires and one-on-one semi-structured interviews which were then thematically analyzed. Field notes, member checks and triangulation were used throughout the analysis process …

Jmu Campus Inclusivity Video Project, Meredith Grace Browder

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

After experiencing a general lack of knowledge at James Madison University (JMU) regarding inclusivity of students with varying abilities, I decided to find the best way to educate the JMU community on how to be more accommodating on campus. I surveyed students served by the Office of Disability Services in order to assess their concerns and needs. My survey data indicated that the students on campus with disabilities have felt isolated at JMU because of multiple factors including both student and faculty ignorance. After researching the significant role played by videos and social media in shaping public opinion, I used …

The Use Of A Values Affirming Intervention: Does It Impact Math Scores And Semester Grade Point Averages In A Student Support Services Population, Amy L. Debruler

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

College students who are from low income families, have disabilities, or are the first in their family to attend college are more likely to struggle socially and academically in a college setting. Promoting college graduation within these disadvantaged populations is critical for increased life wellness. Previous researchers studied to see if when students wrote about their personal beliefs if it would lead to higher levels of academic confidence and better academic performance (as measured by grades). This study expanded upon those previous studies to look specifically at whether a values-affirming writing intervention provided to at risk students in a federally …

Examining Self-Contained And Integrated Physical Education Experiences Among Individuals With Visual Impairments, Rebecca Coffey

Human Movement Sciences & Special Education Theses & Dissertations

Introduction. While research to date has examined the views of individuals with visual impairments toward integrated public-school physical education, little attention has been given to examining perspectives toward experiences at residential schools for those with visual impairments. By understanding the perspectives of those who attended physical education in both contexts, researchers can gain valuable information about particularities that can make experiences meaningful or challenging. The purpose of this study was to examine how individuals who experienced physical education in both integrated and residential school settings viewed their physical education class experiences. Methods. This study utilized a retrospective interpretative phenomenological approach …