Getting In and Getting On? The Experiences of Young People with Visual Impairments and Hearing Impairments in Third-level Education

• Published in: International journal of disability, development, and education development, and education, 2014-04, Vol.61 (2), p.119-133
• Main Author: Byrne, Bronagh
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Academic Support Services; Access to Education; Attitudes toward Disabilities; barriers; Barriers to participation; Bourdieu; Bourdieu (P); Braille; capital; College Faculty; Deaf Interpreting; Disabilities; Educational Experience; Educational Policy; Educational Practices; Equal Education; Foreign Countries; further education; Habitus; Hearing; Hearing impairment; Hearing Impairments; Higher education; inclusion; Inclusive education; Interviews; Mainstreaming; Northern Ireland; Paraprofessional School Personnel; Sign Language; Social Bias; Social capital; Social inclusion; Student experience; Student Needs; Student participation; Student Personnel Services; Student support services; support; Visual impairment; Visual Impairments; widening participation; Young people
• ISSN: 1034-912X; 1465-346X
• DOI: 10.1080/1034912X.2014.905057

Young disabled people continue to be under-represented throughout further and higher education settings. Drawing on Pierre Bourdieu's social theory of habitus, capital and field, this paper explores the practices of domination and oppression that have made it difficult for young people with visual impairments and hearing impairments to participate in third-level education on the same basis as non-disabled people. Twenty young people with hearing impairments and visual impairments were interviewed about their educational experiences. In addition, 31 interviews were conducted with third-level education providers, policy-makers and non-governmental organisations. This article has two aims: firstly, to critically examine the experiences of young people with hearing impairments and visual impairments in accessing and engaging with support provisions in further and higher education settings; and secondly, to identify and explore the diversity of ways in which these young people have managed and responded to the practices they have encountered. This article emphasises the journey from ability to dis-ability that young people with hearing and visual impairments experience in their quest for educational achievement. The ambiguities of "inclusion", "widening participation" and "support" are highlighted and critiqued for their extensive failure to challenge taken-for-granted discourses.