Disabled students’ voices about their psycho-social and educational experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic: an empirical study

Abstract

This article presents a study about the psycho-social and educational experiences of disabled students during the COVID-19 pandemic, from quarantine and remote learning to the transition back to their schools. Data was gathered through semi-structured interviews with 45 primary and secondary school-aged disabled students attending both regular and special schools in Greece. Despite the identification of some positive experiences, not all disabled pupils and in all cases were benefited from the measures implemented by the Greek government, as they voiced a range of educational, psychological, and social challenges. Further, disabled pupils’ accounts indicated that they were confronted with ableist discourses in the Greek educational policy and practices concerning the ‘support’ that was available. This study emphasises the need to listen to the voices of disabled students as a pathway to ensure their rights and promote their inclusion, empowerment, and resilience in crisis and no crisis times in their schools.

Points of interest

• This article focuses on the voices of 45 disabled students in Greece about their daily life experiences from school closures to reopening due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Several disabled students expressed some positive beliefs concerning the learning via digital tools. Also, they felt satisfied and proud for finding alternative ways to interact with their peers and for being able to follow the social protection guidelines from the coronavirus during the school closures.

• However, most of disabled students said that remote learning caused difficulties in their emotional state and led to barriers in participating in their school communities and the curriculum.

• When they went back to their schools, disabled students experienced additional social and educational challenges.

• This research recommends that disabled students should be involved in the process of developing school management plans in crisis to avoid ableist thinking and exclusionary practices.

Keywords:

• Voices
• primary and secondary school-aged disabled students
• social and educational experiences
• COVID-19 pandemic
• regular and special schools
• Greece

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

The study is part of the “Aligning disability principle with practice in pandemic crisis: redefining the problem(s) - recasting solution(s) to support disabled students” project. The research project was supported by the Hellenic Foundation for Research and Innovation (H.F.R.I.) under the 4th Call for Action “Science and Society”- Emblematic Action - “Interventions to address the economic and social effects of the COVID-19 pandemic” (Project Number: 04958)