ABSTRACT

This chapter explores the way in which disabled students negotiate their identity in higher education in relation to gender, social class and disability. It is argued that in order to capture the complexity of identity formation, it is important to understand both the inter-relationship of a range of social variables as well as the negotiation of individual identity in specific contexts. Throughout the chapter, I point up the tensions which may arise between these two approaches, the one emphasising the broad brush picture and the other emphasising individual variation and complexity. Case studies are used to explore the way in which women and men from different social class backgrounds and with different types of impairment negotiate identity, placing different meanings on disability in the construction of self. The position of dyslexic students in higher education is explored, since this group makes up a large and growing component of the disabled student population.