"I'm Not Broken": Disabled Students' Perceptions of Representation in Counseling Programs
Open Access
- Author:
- Roundtree, Sarah
- Graduate Program:
- Counselor Education
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- June 03, 2024
- Committee Members:
- Elizabeth Prosek, Professor in Charge/Director of Graduate Studies
Elizabeth Prosek, Major Field Member
Allison Fleming, Chair & Dissertation Advisor
Janice Byrd, Major Field Member
Wilson Okello, Outside Unit & Field Member - Keywords:
- disability
multicultural counseling
counseling
counselor education
higher education
universal design - Abstract:
- The purpose of this study was to deepen the counseling profession’s understanding of disabled students’ lived experience. The counseling field is dedicated to social justice, and part of that work includes advocating for disabled students. Although research has demonstrated the prevalence of ableism in higher education (Dolmage, 2017; Hartley & Saia, 2022; Olkin et al., 2019; Saia et al., 2023), there has been little recognition of ableism in counseling programs more or less the field of counseling as a whole (Hartley & Saia, 2022; Olkin et al., 2019). By listening to the narratives of disabled counselors-in-training, steps to work toward increasing accessibility and inclusivity of counseling programs can be identified and acted on. This qualitative study used critical narrative inquiry to better understand the larger phenomena of navigating counseling programs as disabled students. Seven students participated in a two-interview sequence, surrounding the research questions, 1) What impact have previous experiences in education and human service settings had on disabled students’ identity development?, and 2) How do disabled students experience and reflect on representation within their counseling program? Fraser’s (2004) line by line analysis was used to draw themes from participants’ stories. Four identified themes emerged from the data: (not) fitting in a box, committing to ongoing learning, sweeping it under the carpet, and moving from hiding to celebrating. Based on participant narratives, suggestions are made for applying the findings to counselor education and developing future research that is inclusive to disabled students across identities.