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MA/PhD Theses Abstracts of Current Students & Alumni |
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Rosenberg, Judith Ann. 2002. The Experience of College Students with Learning Disabilities.
Abstract: In Western culture, the period of transition from home to college marks a salient time for college students who have been identified as having a disability, as well as those who have not. This period allows for the first significant expression of independence and the making of major life decisions that will set the path for future career and life choices. The purpose of this study is to explore, the particular experience of college students with disabilities as they make the transition period from late adolescence to young adulthood and to set those particular experiences against the backdrop of mainstream American culture as it is embodied and codified in the policies and procedures of the educational system. Also the expectations about normative development and the nature of disability as perceived by the students interviewed are examined. This study was conducted by means of ethnographic methods executed in three phases. The data was collected using three different qualitative techniques that included a need assessment; based on an instrument combining fixed-choice and open-ended items, phase one; participant observation field, phase two; and open-ended interviews incorporating a life history/ narrative approach with student interviews, phase three. The conclusions of the assessment examined the perceptions and basic knowledge of freshman students towards services available to them on campus. This needs assessment also provided students who self-identified as having a disability the opportunity to find out more about and discuss their experience as a student with disabilities on campus. The needs assessment provided the opportunity for students to express their concerns about who was or was not helpful, and how they felt the university and faculty were in facilitating the accommodation process of services to them on campus. The second phase of this study, participant observation gathered information about the internal structure, function, and organization of the Student Disability Services at the University of South Florida with the remainder of the university and other community interactions. The conclusion derived from the interviews with the students primarily dealt with student’s perceptions of others to their learning disability. Most students felt stigmatized at some point in their lives when in the company of others particularly as it related to an educational system i.e. all stages of school from primary to post secondary.
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