Marking-out normalcy and disability in higher education

Madriaga, Manuel; Hanson, Katie; Kay, Helen; Walker, Ann

Abstract

This article advocates for socially just pedagogies in higher education to challenge senses of normalcy that perpetuate elitist academic attitudes towards the inclusion of disabled students. Normalcy is equated here with an everyday eugenics, which heralds a non-disabled person without ‘defects’, or impairments, as the ideal norm. This article attempts to mark the pervasiveness of normalcy in higher education by presenting findings from a systematic experience survey of disabled students and non-disabled students within one higher education institution in the United Kingdom. The findings indicate that disabled students who have institutional disability support express more difficulties in their learning and assessment than students with no known disability. However, it was found that there was no significant difference in academic achievement between the two cohorts of students. In relation to the latter point, the evidence also shows that disabled students who do not receive institutional disability support underperform.

Citation

Madriaga, M., Hanson, K., Kay, H., & Walker, A. (2011). Marking-out normalcy and disability in higher education. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 32(6), 901-920. https://doi.org/10.1080/01425692.2011.596380

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Nov 17, 2010
• Online Publication Date: Nov 7, 2011
• Publication Date: Nov 7, 2011
• Deposit Date: Oct 21, 2024
• Journal: British Journal of Sociology of Education
• Print ISSN: 0142-5692
• Electronic ISSN: 1465-3346
• Publisher: Routledge
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 32
• Issue: 6
• Pages: 901-920
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/01425692.2011.596380
• Keywords: disability, disabled students, higher education, normalcy, socially just pedagogies
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/23550163
• Publisher URL: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01425692.2011.596380