The Many Dimensions of Academic Ableism: Career and Technical Education (CTE) Faculty Attitudes in Engaging with Disabled Community College Students

Abstract

Career and technical education (CTE) faculty play significant roles in supporting their students down viable professional pathways. Yet existent work has not explored their attitudes of or engagement with disabled learners, who remain greatly unemployed. This hermeneutic phenomenological study draws on 20 interviews to uncover community college CTE faculty attitudes that shape their engagement with disabled learners. Findings illuminate how frustration, uncertainty, admiration, and confidence manifest and influence academic ableism. Implications prompt colleges to make sweeping and systematic changes in providing consistent programming (e.g., lunch-and-learn events) and shifting mindsets around disability (e.g., anti-ableism trainings, naming disability as diversity in institutional policies).