Access and equity for students with disabilities in Colombian higher education

Abstract

Efforts to increase access to higher education in Colombia have resulted in increased enrollment across the country and an expansion of the postsecondary education sector. National legislation such as the 1994 Ley 115 guarantees individuals with disabilities the right to an inclusive public education, and in 2011, Colombia also adopted and ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Many sociopolitical and pedagogical obstacles remain, however, that make it difficult for students with disabilities to access higher education. In Colombia, only 1.7% of students with disabilities graduate from a university setting (Fundación Saldarriaga-Concha, 2018). This article draws from data collected for a larger mixed methods study exploring the influence of different social identities on students' experiences at a private university system in Colombia; here we focus specifically on the experiences of students with disabilities. We were guided by critical disabilities studies in education (DSE) as a theoretical framework for conceptualizing disability in educational settings and explored how the experiences of dis/abled students at Dosantos University reflect institutional policy commitments. Data from first-person narratives illustrate that students with disabilities face discrimination inside educational spaces that reflect broader limited societal understandings of dis/ability, but that students still persisted. Participants documented the strategies they use to successfully access postsecondary opportunity, and an analysis of their experiences illuminates ways that universities can reduce obstacles in this process.