ABSTRACT

In this chapter, we use case studies of disabled students taking Initial Teacher Training (ITT) courses at University 1, a Scottish pre1992 university, to explore the way in which their identity as disabled students is handled in different contexts and articulates with wider aspects of identity formation. For most students, there is a separation between life as a student and life as a worker, and it may be possible to include disability as part of one’s identity at university, while subsequently abandoning it on moving into the workplace. For students with impairments which are visible to others, disability is likely to be a constant aspect of their identity, but for the majority who have unseen impairments, there may be a degree of choice as to whether disability is a permanent or transient feature of identity.