The journey to support people with disabilities began nearly 70 years ago when federal laws began to inform educational practices and ensured accountability that people with disabilities should be able to live a full life. Transportation is one skill that people with disabilities need in order to reach their goals. Transportation impacts nearly…

Roughly one in four adults in the United States have some type of disability. In the general workforce, individuals with disabilities that are of working age are employed at less than half the rate when compared to individuals without disabilities. Despite this, the unemployment rate for individuals with disabilities is more than double that of…

This participatory action research (PAR) dissertation study investigates the implementation of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles by community college faculty in first-year writing courses to support students with learning disabilities at a New Jersey community college. Through a collaborative approach involving faculty as active…

Virtual Reality (VR) is rapidly gaining popularity as a consumer technology, yet accessibility has not been prioritized. VR enables users to interact with immersive virtual worlds, but effective interaction requires the ability to perceive and navigate the environment. Fortunately, over the past thirty years, hundreds of scene-viewing and…

Faculty who have experience working with individuals with disabilities are likely to have positive feelings about accessibility however, that does not always lead to faculty adoption of accessible course design practices. A gap existed in academic research about what was known of faculty experiences in the implementation of accessible course…

As the internet increases in size, our body of research into what visitors prefer for website design is leaving out a growing group of people. Those with visual impairments are one of the fastest growing minorities with a disability online. This extremely under-studied group uses the internet for as many different purposes as sighted users do, but…

This study addresses the need for policy change based on best practices in post-secondary education for students with disabilities. The implementation of federal policies must be reviewed to increase retention and student success for students with disabilities. This research analysis is grounded in social and Disability Diversity DisConnect models…

This research examined how a Digital Escape Room (DER) about accessibility contributed to the potential change of faculty behavioral intentions toward developing accessible online course content. This paper describes the design of the DER and a pilot study of its initial implementation that consisted of two phases, (1 a usability test with 3…

Compared to all students with exceptionalities, people with intellectual disabilities (InD) have the poorest outcomes after high school regarding employment rate, advancement in education, and independent living (Hart et al., 2006). "Financial, legislative, and philosophical support for post-secondary education (PSE) programs for individuals…

African American (AA) youth with disabilities face significant challenges as they transition to adulthood. Currently, as a group, post-secondary education, employment, and living independently outcomes remain poor. As of 2021, only a quarter of African Americans with disabilities were employed (U.S. Department of Labor, n.d.). Without the proper…

The American Association of Community Colleges has identified diversity, equity, and inclusion as important initiatives in redesigning American community colleges. One area of focus is having accessible resources for students with identified disabilities. However, intellectual disabilities are not as readily observable and often go unnoticed. This…

Makerspaces are settings in which learning occurs through creating projects of personal interest with a range of technology. Through the exploration, inquiry, and teamwork inherent within making, learners strengthen their skills in creativity, collaboration, and perseverance. Certain groups have been marginalized and underrepresented in…

This work addresses visual content accessibility for blind and low vision communities through the lenses of technique development and community engagement with an overarching question of "How can we make tactile pictures more available?" This inquiry takes a participatory, action-based design approach to break this question down based on…

My project addressed the broad questions of what barriers exist to accessibility for students and staff with disabilities at Arizona State University (ASU) and the reasons both historical and contemporary why those barriers exist. The second objective of my analysis was to provide potential solutions to these problems utilizing the voices and…

This study examined how Christian higher education institutions support students with physical disabilities (SWPD) and the impact on these students' lived experience and asked, Do colleges support the physical, spiritual, and intellectual (tripartite being) of students with physical disabilities? This phenomenological qualitative case study aimed…