Date Approved
4-15-2024
Graduate Degree Type
Project
Degree Name
Education-Higher Education (M.Ed.)
Degree Program
College of Education
First Advisor
Paul Bylsma
Academic Year
2023/2024
Abstract
The rate of participation in civic engagement programming among students with disabilities remains low on US college campuses, despite the rate of enrollment of students who identify as disabled increasing (Manikas et al., 2018). This is likely due to the stigmatization associated with disabilities that leaves students with disabilities feeling excluded and without the resources to assist in overcoming the obstacles they face (Aquino & Bittinger, 2019). Because students with disabilities are feeling discouraged to participate in civic engagement activities on college campuses, they are missing out experiences that have been shown to benefit students in academic and professional development, as well as making meaningful social connections (Barnhardt et al., 2015; Gomez-Estern et al., 2021). As such, this project will serve to create a template for civic engagement on college campuses that are inclusive to students with disabilities and help destigmatize their identities. The project proposed will be a single civic engagement event where students will have multiple options for what kind of volunteer work they would like to do. Students who participate will be put in groups that will be encouraged to work together through their volunteering and a post-volunteering reflection activity that will aim to cultivate a mutual understanding between students of different states of able-bodiedness.
ScholarWorks Citation
Brzezinski, Phillip D., "Creating Inclusive Environments for Students with Disabilities within Civic Engagement Programming" (2024). Culminating Experience Projects. 435.
https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/gradprojects/435
