Abstract
Students with disabilities are less likely than nondisabled students to graduate from institutions of higher education. The goal of this chapter is thus to provide a critical review of key ways in which people with disabilities have been, and may continue to be, underserved by higher education in the U.S. Adapting a social justice framework, this chapter first provides a social history that contextualizes people with disabilities as a socially disadvantaged and marginalized group. This review also describes the important social strides people with disabilities have made, emphasizing the dominant role of higher education in the struggle for equal rights and full social participation. Then, and working toward an understanding of contemporary obstacles to participatory parity for students with disabilities in higher education, the next section presents meta-analysis findings concerning current experiences of students with disabilities in higher education. We conclude with a summary of key issues that undermine a framework of inclusion and offer a set of recommendations toward the goal of participatory parity.
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Brown, R., Silny, M., Brown, J.T. (2021). Ableism in the Academy? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Experiences of Students with Disabilities in U.S. Higher Education. In: Pearson Jr., W., Reddy, V. (eds) Social Justice and Education in the 21st Century. Diversity and Inclusion Research. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-65417-7_15
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