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Narrative accounts of university education: socio-cultural perspectives of students with disabilities
- Author:
- GIBSON Suanne
- Journal article citation:
- Disability and Society, 27(3), May 2012, pp.353-369.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
Research in higher education suggests the need for educationalists to show greater understanding and awareness of the lived experiences of undergraduate students with disabilities. It is argued that this knowledge should then be used to inform their understandings as tutors and facilitate inclusive and effective teaching strategies. This research focused on five first-year students with disabilities’ learning experiences; their transitions from school or college to university and their feedback on positive and negative learning experiences at both levels. Rich stories were uncovered taking the research beyond the lecture theatre and seminar room, into the students’ union bar and back to the Year 10 classroom. This paper tells some of the stories shared, in particular drawing out findings related to effective learning practices, and notes the significance of placing a socio-cultural lens on the question of inclusion in education.
Beyond a ‘culture of silence’: inclusive education and the liberation of ‘voice’
- Author:
- GIBSON Suanne
- Journal article citation:
- Disability and Society, 21(4), June 2006, pp.315-329.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
Contemporary research into ‘voice as discourse’ alerts one to the continuing presence of barriers in education settings. With reference to the ‘voice’ of those labelled with ‘Special Educational Needs’ and/or ‘Disability’, this article suggests these barriers are the effects of an unconscious commitment to aspects of modernism leading to distortions in understandings. The effect of these distortions is not only that the voices of the ‘disabled’ and other oppressed groups cannot find expression, but that all inhabitants of the institution, including staff and non‐disabled peers, are victims of a ‘Culture of Silence’, an alienation muffling authentic voices rendering dialogue impossible. The article concludes by arguing for these barriers to be acknowledged, creating a space where the Culture of Silence can be explored, understood and challenged. In so doing it is argued that possibilities may emerge for more inclusive ways of being and working in education.