Accessibility and inaccessibility in higher education for students with disabilities. : A study based on students’ experiences.

Accessibility is mostly understood and defined by law and practice. The concept therefore needs to be problematized and deepened by those whom it actually concerns; students with disabilities. The aim of this study was to examine how students with disabilities are experiencing accessibility and inaccessibility in higher education in Sweden. More specifically its aim was to get access to students’ narratives about accessibility and inaccessibility as well as what the concepts meant for them. The empirical material was collected by using narrative method and interviews with ten respondents. The main result showed that inaccessibility often leads to exclusion in several ways. Furthermore, the results indicate that exclusion has a big influence on a persons’ identity, both a persons’ chosen identity as well as enforced identities. The study showed that the concept accessibility is mostly associated with the support methods offered in higher education. The analysis was based on two different kinds of analytic methodologies; one including coding and creating adequate themes based on the empirical material and the second was focusing on my part in creating the narratives and the respondents’ identities. The conclusions were that the concept accessibility is more profound than we usually think when we speak about accessibility. It does not only intend physical accessibility such as narrow bathrooms and heavy doors, but also support and accountability from teachers, individual adjustments and more knowledge about how to meet students with disabilities. The conclusions include that methods that aim to promote accessibility such as UDL and SEd can be used more frequently in Swedish universities