Searching for Authenticity in Disability Identity Development

This article explores the nuances and pathways of disability identity development as well as what may constitute authentic disability identity in various theories and models. Authentic disability identity is influenced by how individuals interact with different power structures and systems and ultimately how they are related to normativity produced by ableism. Because each individual will have unique interactions with these systems, identity development and thus authenticity varies. Practitioners in higher education, with an understanding of how systems influence such nuanced identity, can create more open and flexible pathways to accommodations, improve outreach, and expand support outside of academic contexts

Community Colleges Meeting Students’ Basic Needs

https://sites.google.com/view/dsp-community-college/home Of the students currently enrolled in post-secondary education institutions, more than 50% of college students are attending community colleges. Of these students, 36% are nontraditional students who are between the ages of 22 and 39, 29% first-generation students, and 20% are disabled students. Community colleges and their students are transforming what it means to participate in higher education by providing resources for students with diverse identities, overcoming exclusionary practices that sacrifice students’ physical, mental, and financial wellbeing. As part of a digital storytelling project, we aimed to think critically about injustice in higher education by focusing on a special population or concept, explore these topics through critical theoretical lenses, analyze existing research and best-practices, and present our work in a creative, digital medium. We decided to focus on how community colleges serve low-income students by supporting some of their basic needs: food, housing, healthcare, and technology. Drawing on our research and examples of community colleges who have led the way, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, we developed a website as an attempt to demonstrate some of the ideal ways that community colleges could support some of students’ basic needs, thus constructing our ideal community college. Resisting the long history of elitism, exclusion, and sacrifice in higher education is difficult but community co leges are leading the way. Dismantling these oppressive structures by elevating community colleges and their practices that support the basic needs of students is a first step in a revolutionary reimagining of student success

Urban Development, Housing and Student Enclaves in University Towns: Luxury Living in Madison, WI

Includes Maps, Photographs, Graphs, Figures, Screenshots, Appendices and Bibliography.Our research is concerned with recent additions of high-end, high-rise apartment buildings to the State Street area in Madison, WI, taking the Hub at Madison and its follow-up project the James as particular cases. We address the economic and social consequences of these processes specifically for students, and how these buildings might serve to segregate and stratify the student population. We situate these developments in the context of the greater Madison housing market and recent trends in student housing and consider how these developments articulate with and diverge from previous conceptualization of gentrification and studentification. Through a survey and interviews with four students and two community members we are able to better understand the processes of urban change occurring in Madison. We argue that development in downtown Madison has prompted the creation of exclusionary spaces, specifically in connection to students and student housing