A path towards true inclusion: Disabled students and higher education in America
| Published date | 01 June 2023 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/13582291231162215 |
| Author | Janni Lehrer-Stein,Jordan Berger |
| Date | 01 June 2023 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Article
International Journal of
Discrimination and the Law
2023, Vol. 23(1-2) 126–143
© The Author(s) 2023
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DOI: 10.1177/13582291231162215
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A path towards true inclusion:
Disabled students and higher
education in America
Janni Lehrer-Steinand Jordan Berger
Abstract
We live in a moment of immense and developing change, reacting to global challenges that
appear with increasing speed and requiring reassessment of priorities and perhaps,
reshaping the framework by which we have experienced our lives. Yet these same
challenges provide a rare opportunity to empower the more than one billion people with
disabilities globally through principles of compassion, respect, dignity and inclusion. We
must build a new generation of strong leaders, professionals and advocates tapping the
unlimited potential of people with disabilities. The key to unlocking this potential is
realizing meaningful access to higher education for students with disabilities. This article
examines opportunities and barriers for disabled students in American higher education,
drawing on student and administrator interviews and case law to propose a framework
based upon principles of access, inclusion, accountability and advocacy, so we may ensure
educational opportunities for students with disabilities to allow them to take their rightful
places alongside their non-disabled peers as leaders to secure a fully inclusive and eq-
uitable future for all.
Keywords
Special issue 2023, disability, higher education, college, university, discrimination
Introduction
As the present crises: global pandemic, climate emergencies, war, civil rights and political
controversies threaten to overwhelm our lives, yearning for a better ‘new normal’persists.
For the sixty-one million Americans who live with a disability,
1
with a billion more
around the world,
2
a number that will continue to rise dramatically as we emerge from the
Corresponding author:
Janni Lehrer-Stein, 2218 Clay Street San Francisco, CA 94115, USA.
Email: janni.lehrerstein@gmail.com
COVID-19 pandemic
3
amid an already aging global population, it is logical to be fearful
that the historic exclusion of persons with disabilities will not only continue but intensify.
More than thirty years after the enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act
(ADA),
4
disabled Americans continue to be left behind. Americans with disabilities are
unemployed at twice the rate of others,
5
and fail to obtain parity in basic life sustaining
supports and services, including health care,
6
housing,
7
transportation
8
and cultural
inclusion.
Yet the search for this “new normal”presents a unique opportunity to create a new
thoughtful, compassionate, and inclusive model that will help people with disabilities
reach the elusive goals of equal opportunity, the elimination of inherent bias and full
inclusion. What if, as part of the new normal, we envision a society where people with
disabilities are empowered to fully participate as citizens completely engaged and ac-
cepted for their creativity, talent and capabilities? What if we commit to build new
generations of disabled workers, professionals, artists, experts, politicians and leaders
empowered to take their places alongside their fellow citizens in the pursuit of better lives
for all?
One key lies in meaningful access to higher education, to endow present and future
generations with the skill sets to assume leadership in every aspect of community and
culture. While higher education itself is undergoing transformation, from the historical
citadels of intellectual discourse, to modern ideals of building skill sets for future em-
ployment, and perhaps towards recognition of higher education as a means to imbue
critical analysis and thought, open exchange of ideas and allowing safe spaces for stude nts
to shape their own future,
9
there is little question that access to higher education provides
people with disabilities opportunities that would not otherwise be available in terms of
employment, financial security and cultural inclusion.
10
Although the passage and en-
forcement of laws such as Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (“Section 504”),
the ADA and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), have helped in-
crease the number of students with disabilities who attend and complete high school,
11
disproportionately low numbers of students with disabilities enroll in higher education.
12
With the total number of higher education students declining overall,
13
the increased
challenges posed by the global pandemic, and rising examples of inherent bias,
14
students
with disabilities who wish to pursue higher education face ever increasing barriers,
challenges and stigma.
Complex and often unclear administrative obligations, wide discretion in providing
and denying accommodations, liability fears and lack of commitment to full inclusion
makes it easy for disabled students to fall through the cracks. Institutions make in-
consistent and often, frustrating and life altering decisions. These decisions create barriers
for students with disabilities and leave a confusing patchwork of conflicting resolutions to
problems that affect and change young lives. Yet, the application of disability rights
principles to this problem may clear the way for a better and more inclusive higher
education experience for all. Focusing on the principles of access, inclusion, account-
ability and advocacy highlights a path forward that can enable students to proceed to
successful completion of degrees, thereby enabling them to pursue and thrive in business,
professions, academia, public service or whatever pursuits for which they have built skills
Lehrer-Stein and Berger 127
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