Hidden voices in higher education: inclusive policies and practices in social science and law classrooms

Abstract

This paper pertains to a broader biographical-narrative research project which studies barriers and support as identified by students with disabilities at a Spanish University (Barriers and Support That Disabled Students Identify in the University. Project funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (Dir. Dr Anabel Moriña; Ref. EDU 2010–16264, 2010–2014)). The present study focuses specifically on barriers and support identified by students with disabilities enrolled in undergraduate programmes in the Social Sciences and Law. The purpose of this paper is to analyse, from the point of view of disabled students (applying the biographic-narrative methodology), which barriers and which support this group encounters in Higher Education. To this end, findings are organised in the following categories: general institutional data; infrastructure, architectural and accessibility-related data; faculty and teaching-related data; data relating to fellow students; and suggestions for improving the university and/or university classrooms. In the Conclusions section, we return to our earlier discussion of key findings which shed some light on how the University helps or hinders learning among participants in the study. From this perspective, taking as a reference the social model of disability, we conclude that in order to be inclusive, the University needs to commit itself to adopting proactive measures that eliminate the barriers that do not permit the learning and the full participation of the students in question.

Keywords:

• inclusive education
• disability
• barriers
• support
• higher education
• social sciences and law

Notes on contributors

Rosario López Gavira is Associate lecturer at the Department of Accounting and Finance at the University of Seville. Her main research interests are auditing, university teaching and disability. Currently, she is involved in a research project of the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and a Project of Excellence of the Government of Andalusia. She was a visiting researcher in Germany, Colombia and the UK.

Anabel Moriña is Associate professor in Inclusive Education at the Department of Teaching and Educational Organisation of the University of Seville. Research interests include: educational exclusion, inclusive education, in-service teacher training and disability. Currently, she is conducting several research projects on Higher Education, Inclusive Education and Students with Disabilities.

Notes

1 The academic disciplines at the University are: Health Sciences; Experimental Sciences; Social Sciences and Law; Engineering and Technology; Humanities.

2 In order to safeguard the confidentiality of participants in this study, the following abbreviation system is used: RSE (Social Sciences and Law) plus the number designating each of the eight participants.

3 The student aide is a volunteer position at the University, whose function is to help students with disabilities both in the classroom and around campus. Functions may include note-taking, help with accessing information, escorting students to, from and around university buildings, etc.

4 ONCE is a non-profit organisation known as Organización Nacional de Ciegos Españoles, meaning National Organisation of Blind Spaniards, whose mission is to improve the quality of life for the blind and anyone with a visual disability in Spain.

5 However, it should be noted that both in the field of knowledge and in the rest, group work was identified by the participants in this research as a strategy that contributes to learning and participation in HE.