‘We aren’t heroes, we’re survivors’: higher education as an opportunity for students with disabilities to reinvent an identity

Abstract

The partial results of ongoing research in the ‘University Barriers and Aids Identified by Students with Disabilities’ Project are presented. This four-year study (2011–2014) was carried out by a University of Seville research team with lecturers from a variety of fields and areas of knowledge (Educational Sciences, Economics, Health Sciences and Experimental Sciences). The general aim was to discover, from listening to the students themselves, barriers and aids they identified as affecting access, academic performance and overall perception of their higher education experience. The biographical narrative method, which allows the participants to talk freely about themselves without silencing their subjectivity, was used. This information was acquired by data collection techniques, such as in-depth interviews, observations, photographs and interviews with key persons in the life of each student. A structural analysis was implemented using an inductive system of categories and codes included in the MaxODA10 data analysis program. This study revealed the most personal and private feelings of the participants as they discussed such things as their perception as students, identification of disabilities or their strategies for facing ‘adversities’. The discourse revealed higher education as a privileged scenario in which they are socially included and able to reinvent an identity that may have deteriorated during other stages of their education.

Keywords:

• Students with disabilities
• higher education
• inclusive education
• resilience
• biographical narrative methodology

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. The areas of knowledge recognised at the University of Seville are Health Sciences, Experimental Sciences, Social and Judicial Sciences, Engineering and Technology and Humanities.

2. To safeguard the confidentiality of the participants in this research, we have used a series of identifying abbreviations. RSC refers to Health Sciences, RSE to Social and Legal Science, RSP to Social Sciences (Education), RTE to Engineering and Technology and Experimental Sciences, and RH to Humanities. Each participant is identified by one of these abbreviations followed by a number. E stands for the interviewer.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Junta de Andalucía, Proyecto de Excelencia [grant number P11-SEJ-7255]; Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness [grant number EDU 2010-16264].