Is disability a diversity issue?: Diversity workers and the construction of disability in higher education
Date of Award
July 2016
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Cultural Foundations of Education
Advisor(s)
Catherine Engstrom
Second Advisor
Sari Biklen
Keywords
Ableism, Affirmative Action, Disability, Disability Studies, Diversity, Higher Education
Subject Categories
Education
Abstract
This dissertation explored how 23 college presidents, senior administrators, faculty and staff at six college campuses in the northeast United States understood diversity and disability and how these perspectives were positioned from their personal experiences, larger campus initiatives, and institutional cultures. Even as higher education scholars and practitioners work to increase educational opportunities for historically underserved populations (Cuyjet, Howard-Hamilton, & Cooper, 2011; Orfield, 2001; Quaye & Harper, 2015) and a growing body of research indicates that being part of a diverse college community can enhance development in leadership skills, critical thinking, and cross-cultural communication (Baxter-Magolda, 1992; Chang, Denson, Saenz, & Misa, 2006; Gurin, Nagda, & Lopez, 2004), there is little inquiry into how disability is situated within this work. Compliance with civil rights statutes made important strides for holding postsecondary institutions accountable to diverse demographics of society but did not fully dismantle structural practices and attitudinal beliefs that underserved groups were lacking in academic potential. Universities have acknowledged the category of disability as the result of hard-fought civil rights campaigns and federal legislation. However, findings from this research indicate that disability’s close proximity to individualized, biomedical discourses kept this social group apart from other work designed to engender diversity in higher education. These diversity workers’ perspectives on both diversity and disability illuminated the ways ableism functioned in the arenas of higher education and how it influenced shared experiences with other forms of structural oppression.
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Recommended Citation
Shallish, Lauren Emily, "Is disability a diversity issue?: Diversity workers and the construction of disability in higher education" (2016). Dissertations - ALL. 527.
https://surface.syr.edu/etd/527
