When Ramps Aren\u27t Enough: Carleton Students\u27 Perceptions of Disability

As the need for a college degree moves from luxury to necessity, higher education institutions have begun experiencing a large influx of differently-abled students. Without federally mandated programs and accommodations, these differently abled students struggle to achieve the same level of success as their peers (Floyd 2012). Many students experience discrimination in the form of bullying, teasing, and exclusion because their inabilities are mistaken for laziness or carelessness. The root of this discrimination comes from deep internalized stigmas held by the able-bodied population primarily. My study assesses the perceptions of disability of Carleton’s student body, and in doing so seeks to understand discrimination from the perspective of students not experiencing disability. I conducted a survey of 500 randomly selected participants, with a 48 percent response rate, and found that students at Carleton are more reluctant to answer negatively if they have had personal exposure to disability. Most students report concern about discrimination against disabilities. However, students with disabilities struggle to feel included in social settings and often downplay instances of discrimination. We need to continue exploring the perceptions society has about disability to understand the root of stigmas