“Is that okay with you?” How university students discuss disability-related accommodations with faculty members and what we can do to make students’ experiences less stigmatizing and more meaningful.

“Is that okay with you?” - Student-faculty discussion making the conversation less stigmatizing and more meaningful. In this presentation, Dr. Freedman will share results of a study about how university students, identified with having a disability, discuss disability-related accommodations with faculty members. Data presented will provide a glimpse into how students engage, in the moment, when advocating for the use of accommodations. Examples include how students talk about their disability and need for accommodations, as well as how they respond in a situation in which a faculty member expresses a concern about their accommodations. Dr. Freedman will also provide additional first-person perspectives in which students reflect on the process of receiving accommodations and communicating with faculty members. He will then suggest implications of this research, including using frameworks such as universal design and “beyond compliance” to create more meaningful participation for students with disabilities in post-secondary education. Biography Dr. Justin Freedman is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Interdisciplinary and Inclusive Education at Rowan University in Glassboro, New Jersey. He is originally from central New Jersey and received his undergraduate and Master’s degrees from The College of New Jersey with teacher certifications in Social Studies and Special Education. After graduating, Justin taught middle school social studies in Philadelphia and high school special education in Massachusetts. He received a Ph.D. from Syracuse University, where he studied Special Education and Disability Studies. In his doctoral dissertation, he examined how university students advocate for disability-related accommodations in conversations with faculty members. At age five, Dr. Freedman was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and identified as having a learning disability. Over time, he learned to embrace his differences and develop strategies to become a successful student, teacher, and researcher. Now as a professor, Dr. Freedman’s research focuses on ADHD, clinical simulations in post-secondary education, and implementing approaches to disability and accommodations, including universal design, to create more meaningful participation for post-secondary students. His research has been published in refereed journals including the International Journal of Inclusive Education, Disability & Society, and Teachers College Record