Failing at the basics: disabled university students’ views on enhancing classroom inclusion

Abstract

Since the beginning of higher education, universities have remained largely closed off spaces for disabled students. This paper examines how, and why, it has largely been in the last fifty years that these students have slowly been able to enter universities as the sector has made incremental improvements to enable the entry of students from different disability backgrounds. The paper aims to assess the positive steps universities have taken towards more inclusive practices for disabled students, while also using data sourced from a survey of disabled students studying in the Global North to consider what actions might increase equitable practices in university classrooms. Disabled students highlight that for all of the advances and support they receive, so often it is the fundamental elements of classroom inclusion that are still being overlooked, and subsequently, are creating barriers in even the earliest steps into their university careers.