And then you can prove them wrong : The college experiences of students with intellectual and developmental disability labels

This dissertation chronicles the college experiences of students with intellectual and developmental disability labels enrolled in an inclusive postsecondary program, as told by them. Using student-generated digital photographs as visual supports around which to organize focus group conversations, I employ a participatory, phenomenological methodology to garner and represent the students’ experiences. The study design, and data collection are informed by both feminist and Disability Studies epistemological and theoretical frameworks, while the analysis foregrounds Disability Studies, seeking to privilege and center the voices of a population of students who have been largely left out of scholarship to date. This study lives within a cultural and historical moment where students with intellectual and developmental disability labels are steadily gaining access to postsecondary education spaces via alternative pathway programs, thus necessitating close, consistent investigation of what happens therein. Findings highlight the integral, though not uncomplicated role of the inclusive postsecondary education program structures in facilitating students’ access to and participation in social and academic facets of campus life, friendship dynamics between students with and without disabilities, and the presence of support staff in students’ lives. Additionally, this dissertation foregrounds key methodological questions about how to deliver on the promise of inclusive, participatory inquiry and exposes tensions around issues of informed consent, communication, and support for participants with intellectual and developmental disability labels. This work invites inclusive postsecondary education practitioners, Disability Studies scholars, self-advocates, and their allies to explore the contours and conflicts of intellectual disability identity, affinity, and college membership, challenging us all to honor student experiences while continually bending towards a future we have perhaps not yet imagined

Fostering Communication Through Physical Activity

Many individuals with autism experience difficulties with reliable, meaningful communication often impacting their academic and social engagement. As the first and most frequent communication partners, parents of children with autism may struggle initiating or maintaining meaningful communicative interactions, and thus require training, tools, and support. This article describes an approach to coaching parents in fostering meaningful, reciprocal communication through recreational activities as part of a larger physical activity program for parents and families of children with autism. It describes a Cycle of Communication framework as a tool for parents to recognize opportunities to structure and support their children’s communicative attempts and are discussed herein for educators, families and practitioners to adapt and use within their local contexts

“It would be simpler to see success without dominating discourse of ability”

This paper engages with and reflects the college experiences of three college students/graduates who type to communicate, chronicled through ongoing conversations with one another and a group of co-inquirers, focused on understanding experiences in higher education. Grounded in a disability studies in education framework, this work draws on narrative inquiry and collaborative qualitative analysis of discussions over three years in a co-constructed digital interspace. Key findings include: the role of mentorship and connection; navigating the system; controlling the narrative; and traversing new methodological and relational landscapes. Together, these conversations about neurodivergent communicative experiences in higher education tell stories of agency, friendship, affiliation, and advocacy against a backdrop of ableism. Through illustrative dialogic moments, we grapple with the complexities of presence as resistance in higher educational spaces. This work highlights collaborative research methods that center communicative diversity and relationality in inquiry, as well as how process can inform dialogue in and about the academy