Date Approved
4-22-2025
Graduate Degree Type
Project
Degree Name
Education-Higher Education (M.Ed.)
Degree Program
Education Leadership & Counseling
First Advisor
Dr. Laila McCloud
Academic Year
2024/2025
Abstract
When higher education institutions rely on a single office to provide primarily in-class accommodations for students with diagnosed disabilities, practitioners beyond this office receive little guidance on supporting the broader disabled community in daily practices. By critiquing the dominant models, theories, interventions, and solutions that create an ambiguous responsibility for how practitioners are to include and accommodate disabled people the project can outline alternative methods. A culture of ableism and rampant inaccessibility is innate to how North American higher education operates as an institutional practice. The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 is treated like a successful initiative that guarantees reasonable accommodations for disabled people when, in the lived experiences of the majority of disabled people, it is far from even useful. The bureaucratic structure that silos disabled needs is based on the Medical Model of disability, it fails to guarantee accommodations, it places all responsibility on the person requiring care, and it often demands more effort than the original tasks. Practitioners can make substantial contributions to meeting the needs of disabled people without the use of accommodations. After critically examining the current state of disability support, practitioners can identify inaccessibility within their local contexts and collaborate with disabled people to address their needs. Practitioners can address immediate challenges while assisting disabled people in navigating bureaucratic processes. The Ambi-Solutions Exercise supports the learning process by offering applied examples of alternative support methods that work in parallel with current standards. These digestible learning materials are sculpted from critical disability theory, mixed queer-crip cultural practices, social justice counseling competencies, and professional experiences in creating disability-centric communities, programs, and systems. If practitioners feel more comfortable actively helping disabled people, we can push our campus culture towards accessibility that goes beyond minimal compliance with federal regulations.
ScholarWorks Citation
Zurita, Mae L., "Accessibility Care Beyond the University Disability Office" (2025). Culminating Experience Projects. 576.
https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/gradprojects/576
