ABSTRACT
According to the US Department of Education, approximately 11% of undergraduate students reported having a disability or an impairment that affects one or more of their major life activities. Understandings of disability, disability identity, and ableism have been shaped by how disability is conceptualized. Historically, higher education research has used the medical model, which frames disabilities as conditions that need to be fixed or cured in order for individuals to return to “normal” life. Notably, when scholars have attended to disability identity, they have tended to focus on specific types of disability and impairments. The chapter provides an opportunity to explore the development of disability identity while attending to students’ intersecting socially constructed identities and their relationships with others within systems of oppression. Few scholars have created generalized models of disability identity development that account for various forms of disability that may emerge across an individual’s lifespan.
