Disability in Higher Education: From Person-Based to Interaction-Based

Authors

  • Jeffrey Porter National Technical Institute for the Deaf & Rochester Institute of Technology Author

Abstract

The meaning of disability is analyzed from a conventional and an alternative perspective. Results of this analysis are applied to such higher education issues as institutional role, pedagogical expectations, and program quality. The article advances a view of disability as interaction-specific rather than person-specific, as arising when the nature of the academic task or instructional environment fails to support adequately the learning characteristics of the student. Within this view, learning environments (including teachers) have a primary influence in creating or preventing educational disability. Implications of this position for all students in higher education, not only those conventionally designated as disabled, are explored.

Published

2024-03-22