Prohn, Seb

Think College Insight Brief #26 provides a framework for inclusion of students with intellectual disabilities (ID) in higher education. It was developed by members of the Think College Special Interest Group Building Inclusive Campus Communities and collaborating partners from the Institute for Community Inclusion (ICI). To support implementation of this inclusive higher education framework, a series of reflective questions are provided for practitioners and administrators that they can consider when designing new or evaluating existing programs at institutions of higher education.

This online Research Summit from June 2017 featured two researchers who recently completed their doctoral dissertations in the area of postsecondary education for students with intellectual disability.  They presented their research and led a discussion on conducting doctoral research during the summit.

In the postsecondary education (PSE) community, the inclusion of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) in postsecondary education is viewed as a human right with benefits that extend through campus communities (Jones et al., 2015; Kelty, 2014). Inclusion in a PSE community requires a minimum of two socially engaged partners (e.g., friends, classmates, club members, etc.). Direct accounts from social participants offer insights into the construction, meaning, and perceived impact of social interactions as they relate to PSE for students with I/DD.

In this Think College Story, a student at Western Carolina University shares his experiences being fully included in academics, employment, and campus life, including living in the dorms and participating in a fraternity.

Postsecondary education programs have increased opportunities for students with and without intellectual disabilities to study abroad as inclusive classes. Using open-coding qualitative techniques, the authors examined an inclusive study abroad group’s daily reflective journals during a study abroad trip to London and Dublin. Three shared categories emerged from analysis: personal development, bonding/social inclusion, and learning from English and Irish adults with intellectual disabilities. Each group reported two distinct categories as well.