Speaking Out: Perceptions of Students with Disabilities at Canadian Universities Regarding Institutional Policies.

This article examines the perceptions of students with disabilities attending universities in Canada regarding the "fairness" of the institutional policies of the campuses that they attend. In general students rated the policies as adequate in meeting their own specific needs, however, in terms of satisfaction with the various institutional policies, students rated them as only poor to good Responses of students were examined to determine whether the degree of satisfaction was affected by the size of the institution in which the students were enrolled. Students attending small universities (i.e., universities in which the total student population was fewer than 10,000 students) rated their level of satisfaction with the policies in effect slightly higher than did students attending large universities (i.e., universities in which the total student population was greater than 10,000 students); however, the difference was not found to be significant. Many of the students were unaware of policies in effect. Recommendations are made to assist students to become aware of their rights and to promote understanding by institutional staff of the unique needs of students with disabilities. The number of students with disabilities attending institutions of higher education has increased dramatically over the past decade in the United States (HEATH Resource Center, 1992; U.S. Department of Education, 1987) and in Canada (Fichten, 1988; Hill, 1992; Robertson, 1992; Wilchesky, 1986). Even though the number of students has increased in a manner that has been described as "meteoric" in nature (Wilchesky, 1986), there has generally been little attention given to this group by researchers in the field (Burback & Babbitt, 1988). Most of the research to date has focused on the following areas: (a) attitudes of various groups, such as nondisabled students (Fichten & Bourdon, 1983), professors (Fonosch & Schwab, 1981; Leyser, 1989), and student services personnel (Kelly, 1984) toward students with disabilities; (b) availability of services to students (Marion & lovacchini, 1983; Sergent, Sedlacek, Carter, & Scales, 1987); (c) the role of service providers (Michael, Salend, Bennett, & Harris, 1988; Norlander, Shaw, & McGuire, 1990); (d) issues related to accessibility (Hill, 1992; Stilwell & Schulker, 1973; Stilwell, Stilwell, & Perritt, 1983); and (e) factors that might contribute to the educational success of students, such as faculty attitudes and willingness to accommodate students with disabilities (Aksamit, Morris, & Leuenberger, 1987; Nelson, Dodd, & Smith, 1990). Interestingly, missing from the literature are data gained directly from students with disabilities themselves; rather, researchers have focused their line of inquiry toward those individuals whose life may impact on the students (e.g., administrators, service providers, faculty members). There have been a few notable exceptions, such as the early works by Newman (1976), and Penn and Dudley (1980) and the more recent investigations by Burbach and Babbitt (1988), Patterson, Sedlacek, and Scales (1988), Fichten and her colleagues (Fichten, Bourdon, Creti, & Martos, 1987; Fichten, Goodrick, Tagalakis, Amsel, & Libman, 1990), and Kroeger and Pazandak (1990). The major weaknesses of these studies, however, were the small sample sizes, ranging from 35 (Penn & Dudley, 1980) to 119 subjects (Kroeger, Pazandak, 1990), and the focus on students with physical or orthopedic disabilities most often attending a specific institution of higher education (Burbach & Babbitt, 1988). The purpose of the present study was to examine the perceptions of students with varying disabilities at the postsecondary level. Specifically, the following areas were examined: (a) the level of satisfaction of students with regard to the nature of institutional policies that could impact on their success in pursuit of higher education; (b) the services available from the Office of Students with Disabilities (OSD) that are required in order to benefit from instruction; and (c) the willingness of faculty to accommodate students with unique learning problems in their classes. By means of a detailed questionnaire, this study, which involved 264 students attending universities across Canada, endeavored to provide the reader with a greater understanding of how students view the attempts by others (i.e., administrators, service providers, and faculty) to welcome them to the institution and to assimilate them into the academic milieu. This study is limited to the perceptions of students attending universities; no attempt is made to examine the perceptions of students at other types of institutions providing a program of higher education (e.g., community colleges, trade schools). This article focuses only on the perceptions of students with disabilities at Canadian universities regarding institutional policies. Institutional Attitudes Fichten (1988) in her discussion of factors that affect integration stated that attitudes "can be a vital ingredient in the success or failure of students with a disability and in the overall success of the mainstreaming effort in postsecondary education" (p. 171). Institutional attitudes are, according to Fichten, the most important, for without a favorable disposition students will perceive that they are "not welcome" on campus (p. 181). For more than a decade institutional attitudes have been recognized as an important aspect in the success of students with disabilities attending postsecondary institutions. As early as 1980, Penn and Dudley stated: " . institutionalized prejudice and other factors still exclude many handicapped students from the mainstream of campus life at many institutions" (p. 355). As institutions grapple with the increased numbers of students with disabilities, administrators have attempted to develop policies that are fair and equitable to all students. However, there have been few efforts to examine the policies that have been developed and to determine if they are nondiscriminatory and meet the needs of students with disabilities. In addition, there does not appear to be any study that has examined the attitudes of students with disabilities towards these policies that could have a serious impact on their ability to access educational programs. Similarly, no study has examined the differences between the degree of satisfaction of students who attend small universities (i.e., total enrollment fewer than 10,000) and those who attend large universities (i.e., total enrollment greater than 10,000), even though it has been suggested that more students with disabilities choose to attend smaller institutions rather than larger ones (Bursuck, Rose, Cowen, & Yahaya, 1989; Hill, 1992; Sergent et al., 1987) and that the level of services vary widely on the basis of size of university (Hill, 1992). The present study was designed to answer the following research questions: 1. Are students with disabilities aware of the existence of written policies that may impact on their education (e.g., policies related to nondiscriminatory admission; physical access; modifications of academic requirements; provision of necessary services; provision of necessary equipment and training of staff)? 2. In general how would students rate the institutional policies at the universities that they attend? What would be the basis for their judgments? 3. Do students believe that the individual policies of the institutions they attend are adequate to meet their unique learning needs? If they are judged to be "not adequate," what is the basis of the students' opinion? 4. Do students believe formal written policies are necessary and what are their reasons for their beliefs? 5. Would certain institutional variables (e.g., size) and student variables (e.g., academic standing, type of program, gender, type of disability) impact on students' overall rating of adequacy of institutional policies?