ABSTRACT
The perpetuation of disability as an individualized, medical condition maintains its devaluation within diversity efforts and obstructs the understanding of persons who identify as disabled as a valued social group. Diversity in educational settings is generally understood as the "body of services and programs offered to groups of students, faculty and staff that seek to ensure compliance with non-discrimination and related policy and law, and to affirm social membership group differences in curricular, co-curricular and workplace contexts". Disability studies understand the category of disability as a social phenomenon rather than a biomedical deficit that exists solely within the person. By employing a disability studies framework, disability is increasingly regarded as a socio-political issue. Disability studies served as the lens by which this study was able to deconstruct the culture of discussion on topics about diversity, education, access, and participation for both persons labeled with a disability and other marginalized groups in higher education.
