What is the rationale for this research?
When & where was this research
carried out?
• Research is a case study of Trinity College
Dublin
• Carried out 2010 to 2016
• Interviews with 37 students: March to
December 2013
What are the main findings?
The playing field is
being levelled:
• More SWD are entering
and graduating than ever
before
• Real organisational &
physical changes have
taken place on campus
• Most SWD report that
supports do make a
positive difference
The playing field is
not yet level:
• SWD are still considered
under-represented and
disadvantaged in HE
• Work remains to
challenge attitudes,
improve access in the
curriculum & built
environment
• Some SWD report that
supports did not work for
them
What was in the literature review?
1. The Concept of Disability
2. Law and Policy relating to SWD in HE
3. Student Retention
Disability
Retention
Law &
Policy
Law &
Policy
Disability
Retention
What is the Concept of Disability?
Bodily impairments
Social norms
Capitalism
Discrimination
Medical sociology
Discourses of power
Historical
Anthropology
Civil rights
 Shakespeare, French
 Goffman, Davis
 Oliver
 Barnes
 Bury, Williams
 Foucault, Tremain
 Borsay, Gleeson
 Kasnitz, Murphy
 Hunt, DeJong, Zola
Negative associations…
Disability is a post-modern concept:
For us, disability is the quintessential postmodern concept, because it is so complex, so
variable, so contingent, so situated. It sits at the
intersection of biology and society and of
agency and structure. Disability cannot be
reduced to a singular identity: it is a multiplicity,
a plurality. (Shakespeare & Watson 2002, p.519)
What Laws and Policies influence Disability
Services in HEIs globally & in Ireland?
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Americans with Disability Act 1990
Salamanca Statement 1994
Universities Act 1997
UN Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2007
Employment Equality Act 1998 – 2010
Equal Status Act 2000 - 2011
(EPSEN) Special Educational Needs Act 2004
Disability Act 2005
How are SWD ‘getting on’ in HE?
The issue of Student Retention
How was the research done?
Qualitative & Quantitative
‘Mixed methods’
What is Actor Network Theory?
(generalised symmetry)
Students - Impairments - Barriers - Reasonable Accommodations
New networks
What does the quantitative data say?
How many students with disabilities are there in
Trinity College?
Year
08/09 09/10 10/11
11/12
12/13
13/14
14/15
Disability
Service
Register
585
911
1058
1186
1313
685
818
% of
3.6%registrations
4.2% 4.9% in one
5.4% HEI6.4%
7.7%
Student
2008 7.1%
to 2013:
student
pop.
How can the progression and
withdrawal of SWD be monitored?
Progression rates by student number – December 2014
300
277
196
200
100
230
170
227
56
2
0
203
132
119
86
78
197
286
3
6
9
13
25
03 04 05
06
07
08
Reg
Graduated
58
09
10
11
Withdrawn
12
13
14
Withdrawn by disability type 2003 to 2013
200
6
8
0
ADD
%
6
4
8
2.1% 2.9%
102
20
3
ASD Blind VI
DCD
Disability
Type
ADD ASD
277
91
17
26
Deaf HI Mental
Physical
Health
Blind/VI DCD
Deaf/HI MH
4
3
20
1.4%
1.1%
7.2%
91
SOI
Phys
17
32.8% 6.1%
Spld
SOI
Spld
26
102
9.4%
36.8%
How do students who enter below points do?
Outcome (%) by entry route 07, 08 & 09 students (%)
50
45
44
46
42
40
35
35
30
28
29
25
Merit 416
20
Supp 114
15
14
15
10
15
12
9
10
No Result or
Current
Withdrawn /
Fail
5
0
1 & 2.1
2.2 & 3
Mature 99
What are the qualitative findings?
Disability type
Gender
Level:
Faculty*
Status **
Physical 11
8 female
6 UG.
9 Arts, 1 EMS, 1 HS.
2 C. 7 G.
3 male
5 PG.
5 female
5 UG.
5 Arts,
1 male
1 PG.
1 HS.
3 female
4 UG.
5 Arts,
3 C. 2 G.
3 male
2 PG.
1 HS.
1 W.
3 female
3 UG.
2 Arts,
2 W. 2 G.
1 male
1 PG.
1 HS.
1 female
3 UG.
1 Arts, 2 HS, 1 EMS.
2 W. 2 G.
3 male
1 PG.
3 female
5 UG.
3 Arts, 3 HS.
2 C. 3 G.
3 male
1 PG.
37
37
Deaf 6
Visual 6
SOI 4
Mental Health 4
Spld 6
Total 37
2 W.
3 C. 3 G.
1 W.
37
37
What were participants asked?
•
•
•
•
•
Educational Journey
Experience of university – academic and social
Specific barriers faced
Supports and Accommodations used
Are reasonable accommodations successful in
removing barriers for students with disabilities?
• Thoughts of leaving
• Remaining concerns/Recommendations
What was their educational journey
before coming to Trinity?
‘’Secondary school was painful on multiple
fronts, limited support, handwriting was difficult,
staff under qualified and an atmosphere not
supportive of academic achievement’’
What factors influenced choice of Trinity?
‘’Well, I guess Trinity College in the first place because
of the prestige associated with it. It would be one of my
main reasons to come here.’’
‘’I put more thought into where I was going rather than
what I was doing.’’
‘’I wanted to go to third level and Trinity was the only
one that did the course that I applied for.’’
What was their social experience?
I loved just coming in. And I
love the whole sense of
space you get when you
came in under the arch. I
just like feeling I’m part of
this, you know, the sense of
belonging when you walk in
and I’m in my own
environment,
I found college life very difficult to adapt to.
I was very lonely, homesick and depressed.
I found Dublin city daunting and so much
duller compared to (name of home town)
What was their academic experience?
‘’The academic side was very good, very interesting. The
people who taught were clearly very knowledgeable. I
really don’t have anything to complain about there.’’
‘’I didn’t really feel like my heart was in that, I didn’t
really feel comfortable. I never really found my feet in
that (first) course.’’
What barriers did
students face?
‘’Part of the things with Asperger’s is I think they
come at it differently and there’s sort of a certain
tolerance for people not having the top level
social skills. Last year I was on holiday with this
friend who has Asperger’s and his dad talked
about how he sleeps a lot. He gets tired, and he
just said you know, I think that it’s an effort for
him being with all those people all the time,
being normal.’’
What supports did they use?
‘’Having an academic assistant has been
absolutely brilliant. If I didn’t have them I would
never have gotten an essay written…genuinely
people are great, you know I think if you don’t
have good people nothing else can ever work.’’
Did supports level the playing field?
Yeah I think they are very successful. Because if
you look at the number of students with
disabilities they say it’s been continuously rising.
But I really think the more accommodations are
put in place, the more they can be worked in
different combinations for different people, it’s
obviously going to make a huge difference.
Did students have thoughts of
leaving?
‘’I think I did have some dark moments, revealing to my
parents that I hadn’t done any work in third year and
there were questions about whether I would be able to
continue or not. I was thinking well, is this just a waste,
because it did seem a misery to go through it all again,
but then I thought, one small thing is, I do like it.
Another thing is, if I don’t do it, all that I have done
would be a waste, I had done 4 years and that would
have gone down the tubes if I didn’t finish it, I did know
that based on work I had done in 1st year and 2nd year, I
can do this.’’
What did students recommend?
‘’One thing that always strikes me is that as an institution,
universities and ITs, generally see disability as a separate
issue, I don’t agree with that. I think a holistic view is very
much needed. ‘’
‘’I suppose if there had been things like here is a fourth
year, who has done three years here, who has managed
but might not even have had the same disability, but just
somebody who can understand how your difficulties are
different to other peoples difficulties.’’
How can participants be categorised?
Strider
Struggler
Striker
Strider/ideal case:
Faced barriers and set backs but were able to
progress with peers and graduate with 1st or 2.1
Engaged with a range of supports in DS that
developed over time
More likely to have completed their degrees ‘on
time’
Struggler/marginal case
Experienced ongoing or recurring challenges that
did impact on progress in Trinity (repeat year, offbooks, transfer)
Inconsistent use of supports and rarely in a
routine or ‘flow’ in Trinity
Came close to leaving but persisted to completion
(often with pass or 2.2)
Striker/critical case:
Left their course having experienced
challenges that appeared to have no
other solution
Less likely to have used supports or
supports not relevant to ‘wrong course’
or financial problems
Some return to HE and do better the 2nd
time
Striders, Strugglers and Strikers explained
14
12
10
8
6
12
8
4
5
2
3
3
2
0
Strider
Struggler
Striker
Struggler to Struggler to
Strider
Striker
Striker &
Struggler
1
2
1
Struggler & Struggler & Striker &
Striker
Struggler Struggler &
Strider
Data viewed with Actor Network Theory
Networks
→→→→
Main:
Theories
Models
Principles
Ideas
Student
Impairment
Barrier
Astin’s Theory Medical model
Social model
of involvement
Goffman’s Stigma Oppression
Chickering’s
seven vectors Charity Model
Discrimination
Lack of resources
Tinto’s theory Disadvantaged
of student
Social
integration
Disabled
construction
↓
↓ Actor Network Theory ↓
Reasonable
Accommodation
Pragmatism
Equality & Fairness
Universal Design
Legal compliance
↓
Heterogeneous Networks
Student
Impairment
Barrier
Reasonable
Accommodation
Background: Family,
urban, rural, middle
class, disadvantaged.
Physical
Access issues
Sensory
Physical
infrastructure
Access works: lifts,
ramps, automated
doors
Demographics:
CAO DARE HEAR
Mature students
Post graduate
Undergraduate
Ongoing illness
Relationships:
Faculty staff
Peer group
Friends
Personality
Mental Health
University
organisation
Assistive technology
Specific learning
difficulties
Course
requirements
Medial model
Format of
information
Visible/Non-visible
disabilities
Disclosed/Nondisclosed
disabilities
→
Additional time: exams,
assignments
←
Course content
requirements
Allowances,
permissions and
waivers
Academic support:
Library, note taker,
tutor, formatter
Attitudinal:
Stereotyping
Prejudice,
Discrimination
Translation
→
←
Trinity in Transformation
The End
Limitations…only go so far
• Disability research is highly situational
• 37 sample represents 1.48% of SWD in TCD
• ANT does not privilege imbalances in power or
concepts of oppression or disadvantage
• ANT could ‘dehumanise’ disability and create a
risk that social justice and equality are ignored
• Trinity case study findings are not
generalizable but method and approach are