Enabling transition into higher education for students with asperger syndrome

This project report provides an insight into the lives of students with Asperger Syndrome (AS) during their transition into higher education. It details the experiences of eight students with AS. Students were interviewed multiple times at various junctures throughout their first academic year. Although they told stories of everyday disabling barriers, they also shared experiences of academic and social successes. The project was primarily focused on students with AS; however, its findings will hopefully help inform inclusive policy and practice within higher education institutions

Cognitive Profile of Students Who Enter Higher Education with an Indication of Dyslexia

For languages other than English there is a lack of empirical evidence about the cognitive profile of students entering higher education with a diagnosis of dyslexia. To obtain such evidence, we compared a group of 100 Dutch-speaking students diagnosed with dyslexia with a control group of 100 students without learning disabilities. Our study showed selective deficits in reading and writing (effect sizes for accuracy between d = 1 and d = 2), arithmetic (d≈1), and phonological processing (d>0.7). Except for spelling, these deficits were larger for speed related measures than for accuracy related measures. Students with dyslexia also performed slightly inferior on the KAIT tests of crystallized intelligence, due to the retrieval of verbal information from long-term memory. No significant differences were observed in the KAIT tests of fluid intelligence. The profile we obtained agrees with a recent meta-analysis of English findings suggesting that it generalizes to all alphabetic languages. Implications for special arrangements for students with dyslexia in higher education are outlined

Measurement imperatives and their impact: Academic staff narratives on riding the metric tide

Higher education is in the grip of an unprecedented level of attention to quantitative performance indicators. The recent trajectory of government policy discourses position such measures as necessary in enabling students to have more and better information to inform their choices, in ensuring that institutions are more transparent in their offer, and in justifying to the public that government funding for higher education is well-spent. Measurement imperatives are, therefore, positioned in policy discourses as key to the generation of market competition and institutional differentiation. But beyond government policymakers, many are sceptical about their use and value. Some consider that the measures themselves are flawed instruments; some are concerned about their role in increasing surveillance of staff; and some feel they have little value in relation to enhancing knowledge and knowing, improving pedagogic relationships and developing learning communities. This chapter uses a narrative approach to explore these tensions. It includes five academics’ accounts of their personal responses to measurement imperatives. In tracing how individual narratives intersect with broader discourses of marketisation, equity and differentiation, the chapter activates the sociological imagination (C. Wright Mills, 1959) to bring into closer view some vital questions about the aims, purpose and value of contemporary higher education

'I avoid pubs and the student union like the plague': Students with Asperger Syndrome and their negotiation of university spaces

Research was conducted to gain insight into the lives of students with Asperger Syndrome (AS) during their transitions into higher education. Eight students were recruited from across the United Kingdom to partake in a year-long longitudinal study that incorporated life-history interviews. In their responses, the majority of interviewees identified spaces within their universities as being inaccessible. They found obstacles locating themselves in spaces where other students generally tend to congregate (e.g. student unions, pubs, libraries) due to their sensory impairments. As a result, a number of respondents experienced difficulty engaging socially in university life. This paper explores how students with AS and hypersensitivities negotiated these barriers. While some experienced a sense of ease, others were not as successful. This difference in experience, as argued here, reflects the diversity of individuals who have AS. Reflecting upon this diversity, it is hoped this paper will contribute to raising the profile of young adults with AS and wider questions about disabled student support provision in higher education

Enduring disablism: students with dyslexia and their pathways into UK higher education and beyond

This paper presents some of the findings derived from a UK Aimhigher South Yorkshire research report on disability and higher education. Many of the students who shared their life histories for this project found that there was a lack of information in making choices about their futures, especially information about pursuing higher education. Without information to make informed choices, disabled students not only experience stress and anxiety, but also difficulty in preparing themselves for higher education study. This is, perhaps, reason for the low proportion of disabled learners in further and higher education. There are many reasons to explain this disparity. Many factors are inextricably linked to disablism institutionalized within many sectors of education. The education arena is not being singled out here. However, it does serve as further notice of the pervasiveness of disablism existing in wider society

Understanding the symbolic idea of the American dream and its relationship with the category of whiteness

This article examines the impact the category of 'whiteness' has on individual interpretations of the American Dream. Via twenty-five life-history interviews, this article presents how US military male Veterans have varying interpretations of the collective idea according to their ethnic and racial background. The evidence presented in this article shows that the idea of the American Dream has racial dimensions or aspects. It suggests that 'whiteness' is taken-for-granted in this symbolic idea. For most ethnic minority respondents, this association between American Dream and 'whiteness' places them in a position to straddle the boundaries of American-ness and Otherness. This has implications in their everyday lives and sense of belonging. This article highlights a wider question regarding the extent 'race' shapes the boundaries of American national identity

Why US nationalism should never be considered postnationalist

This article demonstrates that American national identity is symbolic, subjective and ambiguous to the extent that it encapsulates senses of both similarity and difference. Citing evidence from life-history interviews with American military veterans from different ethnic groups, the article shows how some Americans can identify with being racially excluded and still share in a sense of national belonging. It is argued here that this feature is and has always been embedded in the processes of American national identification. In making this argument, this article rejects Ramsey Cook's notion that achieving a sense of similarity between universal and particular interests within a national community is hallmark of postnationalism

Mapping recreation and aesthetic values of ecosystem services in the Bilbao Metropolitan Greenbelt (northern Spain) to support landscape planning

This paper presents a method to quantify cultural ecosystem services (ES) and their spatial distribution in the landscape based on ecological structure and social evaluation approaches. The method aims to provide quantified assessments of ES to support land use planning decisions. A GIS-based approach was used to estimate and map the provision of recreation and aesthetic services supplied by ecosystems in a peri-urban area located in the Basque Country, northern Spain. Data of two different public participation processes (frequency of visits to 25 different sites within the study area and aesthetic value of different landscape units) were used to validate the maps. Three maps were obtained as results: a map showing the provision of recreation services, an aesthetic value map and a map of the correspondences and differences between both services. The data obtained in the participation processes were found useful for the validation of the maps. A weak spatial correlation was found between aesthetic quality and recreation provision services, with an overlap of the highest values for both services only in 7.2 % of the area. A consultation with decision-makers indicated that the results were considered useful to identify areas that can be targeted for improvement of landscape and recreation management