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Chapter
Engaging disability
DOI link for Engaging disability
Engaging disability book
Engaging disability
DOI link for Engaging disability
Engaging disability book
ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors undertake an intracategorical analysis through the lens of student engagement theory. Drawing on the narrative accounts of eight college students with learning disabilities drawn from one small liberal arts college in the northeast, their analysis helps to explicate connections between disability, other social identities, and engagement. This analysis provides information about an understudied population by focusing on engagement experiences, which have been shown elsewhere to be strongly associated with retention. The authors utilize narrative analysis techniques to examine both what participants said and how they said it. The findings include the role of disability in mediating classroom engagement, variations in access to institutional support, the importance of supportive peer networks, and the variable salience of disability identity. Students with disabilities should be able to disclose their disabilities in safe spaces and receive support from student affairs professionals, faculty, and other staff members.