Higher Education

Disability inclusion resources from around the world

Library > Subjects > Education and Childhood > Higher Education

This page has curated news on Higher Education. There are resources from 16 countries and regions, with a total of 45 links.

Highlights

From International News:

Ableism in the academy “Disabled scholars say they often rely on ad hoc agreements to get the accommodations they need to do their jobs. The lack of formal recognition has left many feeling unprotected and unwelcome in the academic workplace.” (2023, UA/AU)

From Bangladesh:

A shot in the dark: The state of higher education for persons with disabilities (2023, TBS)

From Bhutan:

Understanding Inclusion and Accessibility in Higher Education: A Case Study from Bhutan. (2023, Fora Education)

From Brazil:

Changes and challenges that disabled people bring to educational institutions. Feature exploring increased rates of enrolment but gaps in policies and teaching practices. (In Portuguese, 2023, Pesquisa FAPESP) See reflections on the Debrief.

From the United States:

‘It’s Backdoor Accessibility’: Disabled Students’ Navigation of University Campus:

“Introducing the concept of ‘backdoor accessibility,’ this paper examines exclusionary practices and systemic ableism to propose that disabled students are routinely offered a lesser quality service that is argued to be ‘better than nothing.’ In order to navigate these barriers, many students reported the additional expenditure of time, resources and energy.” (2022)

Resources by country:

Global

International News

Chemistry is Inaccessible: How to Reduce Barriers for Disabled Scientists (2023, Educating All Learners)

Ableism in the academy “Disabled scholars say they often rely on ad hoc agreements to get the accommodations they need to do their jobs. The lack of formal recognition has left many feeling unprotected and unwelcome in the academic workplace.” (2023, UA/AU)

Moving labs: a checklist for researchers with disabilities. (2022, Nature Careers)

A discussion forum on quality higher education for persons with disabilities in low and middle income countries. (2022, CIP)

A review of the anthology Improving Accessible Digital Practices in Higher Education (2022, Disability Studies Community)

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Africa

South Africa

The subjective experiences of students with invisible disabilities at a historically disadvantaged university. (2022, African Journal on Disability)

3 ways in which universities can be more inclusive to disabled individuals during an emergency. (2022)

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Asia

Bangladesh

A shot in the dark: The state of higher education for persons with disabilities (2023, TBS)

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Bhutan

Understanding Inclusion and Accessibility in Higher Education: A Case Study from Bhutan. (2023, Fora Education)

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India

Why Disabled Students Want JNU To Walk The Talk. “If I filmed a wheelchair-view video of the Jawaharl Nehru University campus, it would depict a nightmare of inclusivity, quite ironic given JNU's progressive reputation”. (2023, Times of India)

Inclusion should be a matter of policy Because people with disabilities should not be dependent on the kindness of others even for basic needs. An essay on adaptations needed in law school. (2023, The Hindu)

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Palestine

Accessible and Inclusive Higher Education for Palestinian Students with Disability: Policies and Practices Review:

“The results showed absence of factual information about Palestinian students with disabilities, lack of support to adopting in IHE in almost all existing policies and strategic goals, a mixture of practices facilitating and hindering implementation of core elements of IHE, and experience-based policies and practices proposed by the participants to make higher education more accessible and inclusive.” (2023, Apollo)

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Europe

Ireland

Graduates with disabilities are less likely to be employed – and are paid less. (2023, Independent.ie)

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United Kingdom

Students with physical disabilities explain the challenges they face when they go to university. (Jan, The Conversation)

Disability landscape report highlights barriers still facing disabled chemists (2023, Chemistry World)

Deaf scholar promoted to full professor in deaf studies “Until the appointment of Annelies Kusters, UK had only hearing people as full professors in the field” (2023, the Guardian)

Improving the experience of disabled PhD students in STEM “The researchers found that out of 192 survey participants UK wide, only a third (33%) felt they had received the support they needed to be on an equal footing with their non-disabled peers” (2023, Disabled Students UK)

How to promote disabled women in academia (2023, THE)

What I’ve learned from a decade of working with a disability in academia “climbing the academic ladder in an able-bodied world” (2023, Times Higher Education)

Disabled students are being let down by universities (2022, Metro)

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North America

Mexico

Mexico failed to ensure access to inclusive tertiary education for woman with intellectual disability, UN Committee finds. “This case is not about lowering admission standards but about appropriate modifications and adjustments in assessing applications from people with disabilities during the admission process,” (2023, OHCHR)

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United States

Crip Spacetime Access, Failure, and Accountability in Academic Life, a book by Margaret Price. (Apr, Duke University Press) See a New Books Network interview, with transcript.

‘A beautiful way of saying a lot’: sign language brings benefits to the organic chemistry classroom. “We’ve created this organic chemistry lexicon with the Deaf community in mind, but we are starting to see its universal design advantages.” (Mar, Nature)

Experiences of faculty and scientists with disabilities at academic institutions

“Faculty with disabilities encounter systematic barriers at academic institutions, and lack of acknowledgement and research on these experiences has held back institutional and policy changes. To reduce disparities for disabled faculty, academic leadership must allocate resources to address ableism, create more inclusive environments, and raise standards beyond ADA compliance.” (Feb, MedRxiv)

Work Will Not Save Us: An Asian American Crip Manifesto (2023, Disability Studies Quarterly) See discussion on the Debrief.

UCLA has a new disability studies major (2023, Los Angeles Times)

STEM PhDs with disabilities are underpaid and underrepresented in U.S. academia, earning “$14,360 less per year in academia than those without disabilities.” (2023, HUB)

At 20, Berkeley's Disability Studies looks ahead “Launched in 2003, Disability Studies, though formally housed in the Division of Undergraduate Studies, is now present in departments across Berkeley, from art practice to linguistics to sociology.” (2023, Berkeley News)

Uncharted: stories about people with disabilities in STEM fields. (2023, The Story Collider)

The Problem With Disabling How colleges—and the law—are impairing student education and resilience through too many accommodations. [This article is shared for information, not because I agree with it.] (2023, Discourse)

Being Black and Disabled in University “Pursuing an education at the intersection of ableism and racism, Black male students with disabilities develop strategies to silence negative cultural narratives.” (2023, JSTOR Daily)

Creating Our Own Lives Young adults with intellectual disability tell the story of their own experience of higher education. (2023, University of Minnesota Press)

College students with disabilities deserve accessible spaces “Student journalists at the University of Maryland spent months scrutinizing their campus and talking to people with disabilities. More college newspapers should.” (2022, Washington Post)

Students push for Persons with Disabilities Cultural Center (2022, Yale News)

‘It’s Backdoor Accessibility’: Disabled Students’ Navigation of University Campus:

“Introducing the concept of ‘backdoor accessibility,’ this paper examines exclusionary practices and systemic ableism to propose that disabled students are routinely offered a lesser quality service that is argued to be ‘better than nothing.’ In order to navigate these barriers, many students reported the additional expenditure of time, resources and energy.” (2022)

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Oceania

Australia

Students living with a disability are falling behind at university due to lack of accessible, flexible study options. (2023, ABC News)

Barriers facing disabled activism at university: ‘Disability is often relegated to “second-class” status in student activism. More effort, listening and discernment is needed from other activists to build a genuinely inclusive student movement.’ (2022, Honi Soit)

Women with disabilities 'underestimated' as battle for equality in science careers heats up. (2022, ABC News)

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South America

Brazil

Changes and challenges that disabled people bring to educational institutions. Feature exploring increased rates of enrolment but gaps in policies and teaching practices. (In Portuguese, 2023, Pesquisa FAPESP) See reflections on the Debrief.

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Colombia

Hundreds of young people with disabilities are learning at a new university founded by Jeison Aristizábal. (2023)

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