Making Assumptions: Faculty Responses to Students with Disabilities.

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Adults with Disabilities and The Accommodation Communication in Higher Education

This qualitative study describes the accommodation communication as it occurs between faculty in higher education and students with visible and invisible disabilities. Elements of an accommodation communication model are: (a) disclosure, (b) validation, (c) request, (d) responsibility, (e) timing, and (f) negotiation

From Disability Studies to Critical Race Theory: Working Towards Critical Disability Theory

Disability has been isolated in the specialized applied fields where specific disabilities are overemphasized as explanatory variables and organizing schemes. Using specific disability as an organizing variable continues the objectification and medicalization of disabled people silencing voices and perpetuating invisibility (Linton, 1998). Adult educators conduct research based on specific impairment such as HIV/AIDS (Courtenay, Merriam, & Reeves, 1998), learning disabilities (Jordan, 1996; Ross-Gordon, 1989), Deaf/Hard of Hearing (Clark, 2002), and heart disease (Wise, Yun, & Shaw, 2000). This research is frequently done from the perspective of the medical or economic models and few adult educators situate research on disability in critical theory

My disability is part of me: Disclosure and Students with Visible Disabilities

Self-disclosure is any information exchange that refers to the self, including personal states, dispositions, events in the past, and plans for the future (Derlega & Grzelak, 1979, p. 152). An individual\u27s disclosure creates comfort or discomfort in the person receiving the information in the disclosure (Chelune, 1979). The level of (dis)comfort created affects the response the receiver of the disclosure has. Disclosure can increase interpersonal intimacy and decrease interpersonal distance however it can produce the opposite effect, rejection (Wright, 1982). It is also assumed to be reciprocal in ordinary social relationships. The work done on disclosure and disability most often examines the effect disability has on the comfort level of able-bodied individuals (Elliott, MacNair, Herrick, Yoder & Byrne, 1991; Elliott, MacNair, Yoder & Byrne, 1991; Stephan, Stephan, Wenzel & Cornelius. 1991). Little research has been done on disability disclosure in education and employment. Learning is considered a major life activity under the Americans with Disabilities Act. The purpose of accommodation, under Section 504, is to provide students with disabilities an equal opportunity to achieve equal results (Biehl, 1978) with the intent of preventing exclusion based on disability status (Mangrum & Strichert, 1988). Accommodation is an adjustment to the learning environment that does not compromise the essential elements of a course or curriculum (Schuck & Kroeger, 1993, p. 63). In order to access the learning environment certain accommodations may be needed. The student discloses disability status, requests an accommodation, and the instructor complies with the request

Towards A Model Of Disability Disclosure

The model of relational development and decline in close relationships and selfdisclosure contains six agents: relational definition, time, attributional processes, liking, reciprocity, and goals. The purpose of the model is to describe the process of relationship development between peers. This phenomenology investigated disclosures between members of a minority group to a member of a majority group in the context of work. Each agent is discussed in terms of commonalities and differences between the agent and the experience of twelve participants with invisible disabilities interviewed. Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act requires adults to disclose information about the disability, provide requested documentation, and suggest accommodations (P.L. 101-336). The responsibility to disclose and seek accommodations rests solely on the disabled person. This type of disclosure is made for the purpose of accommodation and access to educational institutions, materials, or formal learning opportunities. Disclosure for accommodation most often occurs in formal learning situations such as training programs. Disabled people are expected by able-bodied co-workers to explain the nature and/or ramifications of their disability. Our workplaces become places of risk for disabled people when considering whether to disclose or not and how much information is appropriate (Dycke, 1999). Once disability status is disclosed, a person with invisible disabilities (could pass as an able-bodied person) becomes suspect and future interactions may be tainted (Rocco, 1997). While the disclosure experiences of people with visible disabilities are quite different (Rocco, 2001). Disclosure occurs in adult education and workplace settings by adults with and without disabilities for relationship development. Relationships between co-workers are important for informal learning to occur. Informal learning occurs in natural settings, which have the “potential for learning and in fact organize our learning” (Merriam & Caffarella, 1999, p. 396, italics in original). In contrast to self-directed learning projects initiated by the learner, informal learning at work can be initiated or facilitated by the co-worker with the knowledge or by the employee in need of the knowledge. The way the disclosure is received, perceived, and acted on can make a difference in how the adult will approach a new learning situation at work, seek mentoring or other work relationships (Chelune, 1979). The question is how does disability disclosure between co-workers affect informal learning opportunities between coworkers that enable new employees or employees new to a department or position to learn their jobs in work groups, through mentoring, in informal non structured on the job training, or simply by interacting around a water cooler. Informal learning, non-structured on the job training, mentoring (whether formal or not), learning in organizations such as work groups, all of these forms of learning or structures to facilitate learning involve relationships between people. Relationships develop through personal disclosures, which can include information about one’s experience and knowledge gained through work or outside of work. Individuals from minority groups find themselves in the position of having to explain their experience or teach a person from a dominant cultural group

Deeds and Consequences: Ethical Issues in a Welfare-to-Work Program

This paper explores the impact of a lack of sensitivity to the ethical issues that surfaced in a specific welfare-to-work program on participants’ perceptions, self-esteem, and motivation. Ethical issues in three areas were identified and discussed: (a) professionalism and accountability, (b) participant and provider relationships, and (c) shared responsibilities

National Identity as a Source of Knowledge: Implications for Adult Education

This paper aims to answer the following question: What are employees’ experiences with their national identities in the context of a geocentric organizational culture

Deconstructing heterosexual privilege with new science metaphors

The purpose of the paper is to deconstruct heterosexual privilege in adult education through exploring metaphors in quantum physics and ecology. Binary heterosexist boundaries are re-envisioned and alternative adult learning and education processes are suggested

Joining the Conversation: Graduate Students\u27 Perceptions of Writing for Publication

The authors report on their qualitative study of eight students in a class on writing for publication and the nature of the writing process in academia. While the participants found value and purpose in writing and scholarly writing, they had great difficulty with criticism and using feedback in constructive ways

Institutional Ethnography: A Tool for Interrogating the Institutional and Political Conditions of Individual Experience

Institutional ethnography is described and benefits and implications for adult education are discussed