Influences on Perceptions of Students with Disabilities Regarding Services and Supports Rendered at Their Collegiate Institution

Over the past several generations numerous policies and laws have been established that have allowed people with disabilities to further their education. Students with disabilities enter higher education with varied experiences, which allow for a wide array of perceptions of the services and supports provided on this level. The purpose of this dissertation was to study what these perceptions are and how these perceptions were formed; in hopes to encourage more students with disabilities to self-disclose and access beneficial services in the future. A semi-structured narrative interview was conducted with 8 students willing to self-disclose and who received services and supports at a Northeastern University. It was determined that the services provided were seen as beneficial for their academic goals. Overall students had minimal barriers in the acquisition of services. Additionally, it was determined that although stigma was experienced by all participants, emerging in a total of seven themes: (1) family (this cultural and religious beliefs within the family unit), (2) educators, (3) staff, (4) classmates, (5) coworkers, (6) the general public, and (7) perceived stereotypes. However, these instances of experiencing stigma were not a reluctance factor in seeking services and supports for 7 of 8 students. This suggests that although this Northeastern university is providing adequate service and supports, strides can be made in on the institutional level to continue exploring best practice in services. Additionally, universities need to be proactive in ensuring students know what services are available and how to get them. Lastly universities need to be leaders in the attempts to dissipate stigma