Marking-out normalcy and disability in higher education

Abstract

This article advocates for socially just pedagogies in higher education to challenge senses of normalcy that perpetuate elitist academic attitudes towards the inclusion of disabled students. Normalcy is equated here with an everyday eugenics, which heralds a non-disabled person without ‘defects’, or impairments, as the ideal norm. This article attempts to mark the pervasiveness of normalcy in higher education by presenting findings from a systematic experience survey of disabled students and non-disabled students within one higher education institution in the United Kingdom. The findings indicate that disabled students who have institutional disability support express more difficulties in their learning and assessment than students with no known disability. However, it was found that there was no significant difference in academic achievement between the two cohorts of students. In relation to the latter point, the evidence also shows that disabled students who do not receive institutional disability support underperform.

Keywords:

• disability
• disabled students
• higher education
• normalcy
• socially just pedagogies

Acknowledgements

The authors want to say thank you to Professor Mary Fuller and the Economic Social Research Council – Teaching and Learning Research Programme project ‘Enhancing the Quality and Outcomes of Disabled Students’ Learning in Higher Education’ (2004–7) (RES-139-25-0135) for allowing access and use of their research instruments form their own study. Portions of the data analysis presented in this article have been published in the proceedings of the 2010 TARC International Conference ‘Emerging Trends in Higher Education Learning and Teaching’ in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The authors also would like to take this opportunity to thank Paul Helm for his early involvement in this work.