Learning disabilities and success in post-secondary education: How students make sense of their experiences at an institution of higher learning. Saarbrucken: VDM Verlag Dr

iii Dr. Robert DeBard, Advisor The purpose of this research paper was to understand how students with learning disabilities made sense of their experiences in post-secondary education. More specifically, this study aimed to identify what students with learning disabilities perceived as the challenges and successes they encountered in higher education at a university in Ontario. In light of the epistemology of constructivism, this study operated from an interpretivist theoretical perspective grounded in the phenomenological paradigm using qualitative methodology. To understand the essence of the of students ’ experiences, six students with learning disabilities from a post-secondary institution who were in line to graduate were recruited to contribute to this study. Participants volunteered to participate in a face-to-face, in-depth interview and to share their stories with the researcher. Because this researcher wanted to discover what aspect of participant’s collegiate experiences allowe