Not lazy, not faking: teaching and learning experiences of university students with disabilities
Abstract
This study explores the learning and teaching experiences of 105 disabled students mostly based in England, but with international voices. Students with disabilities are under-represented in universities and tend to have worse post-degree outcomes despite similar attainment rates to their peers. This presents a social justice issue. This article focuses on classroom experiences of these students. Using a survey with qualitative and quantitative elements, students were asked to give details about their experiences in taught settings, about their relationships with academic staff, and about their aspirations. Their responses have been analysed thematically and have been discussed in the context of the discourse around epistemic ignorance and social justice. The study finds that students may feel concerned about anonymity in disclosing disabilities and may be concerned about the way that others perceive them. The study finds that students perceive academic staff as often improperly trained for inclusive teaching.
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Administrative procedures to receive reasonable accommodations can be burdensome and require a lot of additional energy.
“Nevertheless, administrative procedures to receive reasonable accommodations can be burdensome and thus require a lot of additional energy (García-González et al., 2021;Osborne, 2019).”
From Exploring the role of generative AI in higher education: Semi-structured interviews with students with disabilities (2025) · cites this paper as Osborne, 2019
Students with disabilities must often self-advocate and disclose their disability, which can be emotionally demanding, especially for those with invisible disabilities.
“Moreover, students must often self-advocate and disclose their disability, which can be emotionally demanding, especially for those with invisible disabilities (Fichten et al., 2020;Moriña, 2017;Osborne, 2019).”
From Exploring the role of generative AI in higher education: Semi-structured interviews with students with disabilities (2025) · cites this paper as Osborne, 2019
Disclosure can be emotionally tricky for students with disabilities.
“As disclosure can be emotionally tricky for students with disabilities (Moriña, 2017;Mullins & Preyde, 2013;Osborne, 2019), this issue must be addressed carefully.”
From Exploring the role of generative AI in higher education: Semi-structured interviews with students with disabilities (2025) · cites this paper as Osborne, 2019
Some students with disabilities do not want to be treated differently.
“this study found that some students with disabilities do not want to be treated differently.”
From Exploring the role of generative AI in higher education: Semi-structured interviews with students with disabilities (2025) · cites this paper as Osborne, 2019
Cites
Epistemic Injustice: Power and the Ethics of Knowing
Fricker, M. (2007) · doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198237907.001.0001 · Cited by 9,198 · see citing works
Black, R. D., Weinberg, L. A., & Brodwin, M. G. (2015) · Exceptionality Education International · doi:10.5206/eei.v25i2.7723 · Cited by 196 · see citing works
Anderson, A. H., Stephenson, J., & Carter, M. (2017) · Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders · doi:10.1016/j.rasd.2017.04.002 · Cited by 196 · see citing works
Support for Students with Hidden Disabilities in Universities: A Case Study
Couzens, D., Poed, S., Kataoka, M., Brandon, A., Hartley, J., & Keen, D. (2015) · International Journal of Disability, Development and Education · doi:10.1080/1034912x.2014.984592 · Cited by 175 · see citing works
The University Experiences of Students with Learning Disabilities
McGregor, K. K., Langenfeld, N., Van Horne, S., Oleson, J., Anson, M., & Jacobson, W. (2016) · Learning Disabilities Research & Practice · doi:10.1111/ldrp.12102 · Cited by 119 · see citing works
Mutanga, O., & Walker, M. (2017) · African Journal of Disability · doi:10.4102/ajod.v6i0.316 · Cited by 45 · cited 1× · see citing works
“Studies have pointed out that lecturers may not always have a say in which rooms are allocated to classes and may not feel able to request changes (Mutanga and Walker 2017).”
BackgroundInclusion of disability issues in teaching and research in higher education
Ohajunwa, C., Hardy, A., Mckenzie, J., & Lorenzo, T. (2014) · Perspectives in Education · doi:10.38140/pie.v32i3.1875 · Cited by 15 · cited 1× · see citing works
“Disability inclusion in higher education is often overlooked as a social justice issue (Ohajunwa et al. 2014) and tends to be forgotten in discussions about diversity (Higbee, Katz, and Schultz 2010).”
Background
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Moriña, A. (2024) · Disability & Society · doi:10.1080/09687599.2022.2113038 · Cited by 90 · see citing works
Pierrès, O., Darvishy, A., & Christen, M. (2025) · Education and Information Technologies · doi:10.1007/s10639-024-13134-8 · Cited by 48 · see citing works
“Nevertheless, administrative procedures to receive reasonable accommodations can be burdensome and thus require a lot of additional energy (García-González et al., 2021; Osborne, 2019).”
InfluentialBartolo, P. A., Borg, M., Callus, A.-M., De Gaetano, A., Mangiafico, M., Mazzacano D’Amato, E., Sammut, C., Vella Vidal, R., & Vincent, J. (2023) · Frontiers in Education · doi:10.3389/feduc.2023.1218120 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
Hamilton Clark, C. H. (2024) · Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs · doi:10.1111/1471-3802.12683 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
- Authors
- Osborne, T.
- Affiliations
- Lancaster University (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Osborne, Tanya
- ORCID
- Osborne, Tanya
- Venue
- Disability & Society
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2018-12-28
- Volume
- 34
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 228-252
- ISSN
- 0267-4645 (ISSN-L)
- 0968-7599
- 1360-0508
- OpenAlex
- W2907385644
- Cited by
- 100
- References
- 7
- Citations by year
- 2026: 11 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 21 · 2023: 14 · 2022: 16 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 10 · 2019: 5
- FWCI
- 13.42
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Disability & Society (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Safety Research › Disability Education and Employment
- Social Sciences › Safety Research › Disability Rights and Representation
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Inclusion and Disability in Education and Sport
- Keywords
- students with disabilities, higher education, inclusive pedagogy, disability disclosure, anonymity, university faculty, student-lecturer relationship, epistemic ignorance, social justice, student aspirations
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