Addressing Barriers for Persons with Disabilities Pursuing Postsecondary Research

This study investigated the most effective solutions to the barriers of accessibility, physical support, and accommodations for postsecondary students with physical disabilities when attempting to conduct research. It aims to progress disability research, awareness, and create an environment of inclusivity for future students with disabilities in academic research. The barriers addressed were sourced from previous literature on physical barriers for persons with disabilities. Our data was obtained using an online survey through Qualtrics of 76 participants with and without physical disabilities (M=21.6 years) who were recruited through convenience and snowball sampling. Data was analyzed in three separate repeated-measures ANOVAs as well as three separate Holm post hoc tests. Our three hypotheses were 1) adding elevators and ramps was the most effective solution to the barrier of accessibility, 2) adding Assistive Technology (AT) was the most effective solution to the barrier of physical support, and 3) adding an accommodations tab on the institution’s web page was the most effective solution to the barrier of accessing disability information and accommodations. All hypotheses were partially supported, suggesting that there are more solutions to be examined and more barriers to be addressed outside of the scope of this study. Disclaimer: “UBC SEEDS provides students with the opportunity to share the findings of their studies, as well as their opinions, conclusions and recommendations with the UBC community. The reader should bear in mind that this is a student project/report and is not an official document of UBC. Furthermore readers should bear in mind that these reports may not reflect the current status of activities at UBC. We urge you to contact the research persons mentioned in a report or the SEEDS Coordinator about the current status of the subject matter of a project/report.”Arts, Faculty ofPsychology, Department ofUnreviewedUndergraduat