Disability accommodation experiences of social work students in the United States

ABSTRACT

Social work students with disabilities navigate accommodations as part of their post-secondary education, but there is still limited research about how they use and access program and campus supports. This study explored the accommodation experiences of 262 U.S. students who identified as having a disability. Participants were enrolled in BASW (52.1%), MSW (44.4%) and PhD/DSW (3.4%) programs. Quantitative analysis found that 56.4% were registered with disability resources, 47.1% received classroom, and 14.8% field accommodations. Type of disability was only a significant predictor of receiving field accommodations. Employment status was a significant predictor of both registering with disability resources, and receiving classroom accommodations. Open-ended survey responses from disabled students illustrated the varied supports and challenges students navigated on campus and within the classroom and field while enrolled in their social work programs. We discussed how these findings provide social work programs opportunities to consider ways to increase practices that support students with disabilities.

KEYWORDS:

• Disability
• social work education
• students
• accommodations
• faculty interactions

Disclosure Statement

The authors declare no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Data Availability Statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, [CS], upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

The research and preparation of this manuscript were supported by a grant from the School of Social Work and Criminal Justice at the University of Washington Tacoma.

Notes on contributors

Claudia Sellmaier

Claudia Sellmaier, PhD, MA, MSW is an Assistant Professor at the School of Social Work and Criminal Justice at the University of Washington Tacoma. Her research is situated at the intersections of economic inequality and disability.

Jaeran Kim

JaeRan Kim, PhD, MSW is an Assistant Professor at the University of Washington, Tacoma in the School of Social Work and Criminal Justice. Dr. Kim’s research is focused on the intersection of adoption and disabilities, particularly exploring disability, race, and transnational experiences on post-adoption stability.