Supporting Students With Disabilities.

Disability is a condition which restricts an individual’s mental, mobility and sensory functions while performing or undertaking a specific task in the same manner as an individual who has no disability. The various forms of disabilities include attention-deficit or hyperactivity disorders, brain injuries, low vision or blindness, hard-of-hearing or deafness, medical disabilities, learning disabilities, psychiatric  disabilities, physical disabilities, and speech disabilities (Oslund, 2014). Students in postsecondary education setups are affected by various forms of disabilities. They impact their involvement to study or perform different tasks.

            The number of students with disabilities enrolling in institutions of higher learning is on the rise. Federal regulations dictate that reasonable accommodation must be provided to allow them equal access to academic opportunities (Oslund, 2014). However, People have various attitudes towards persons with disabilities and their reasonable accommodations. This research will be based on identifying and examining the different barriers that limit students with disabilities and developing a workable communication solution, which will address the various needs of the administration, faculty and students.

            The research will take three approaches. Firstly, a preliminary literature review will be conducted on research which address discrimination of students with disabilities. Afterwards, the publication of a Disability Fact Sheet Handbook will take place. Its use will be monitored for a year.  Lastly there will be quantitative evaluation on the effectiveness of the handbook in improving communication between the faculty, fellow students and students with disabilities.

            Therefore, the research will employ a quantitative approach. This type of approach focuses on describing phenomena across a large number of people. It provides the possibility of summarizing different characteristics across groups (Kothari, 2004). Since the research will be based on understanding and changing the attitude of faculty and students  by using a small group to represent their larger population, this type of approach will be best.

References,

Kothari, C. R. (2004). Research methodology: Methods & techniques. New Delhi: New Age         International (P) Ltd.

Oslund, C. (2014). Supporting college and university students with invisible disabilities: A guide    for faculty and staff working with students with autism, AD/HD, language processing   disorders, anxiety, and mental illness. London : Jessica Kingsley Publishers.