Key Findings:
- Students with disabilities reported using many services on campus and overwhelmingly attributed their success to a significant relationship with either a professional staff member at the Office of Disability/Special Services or a faculty member.
- Participants had observable personal qualities (self-awareness, perseverance, interpersonal skills) that allowed them to develop and maintain positive, long-term relationships with mentors, either on-campus on in their social circles. Their insight about their disabilities and ability to self-advocate were universally high.
- Although learning about accommodations was not a smooth process, access to accommodations was not a major issue.
- Participating colleges were significantly challenged in accessing service information on students with disabilities.
- Offices of Disability/Special Services are often underfunded, high-volume operations.
- Students and staff identified faculty training on their role in providing accommodations and in understanding how disabilities affect learning in the college classroom as in need of additional support and resources.
Students with disabilities face unique challenges making the transition to higher education and completing degrees. Despite the positive effects of the ADA and Section 504 in making higher education accessible, students with disabilities complete college at a statistically significant lower rate than students without disabilities.
If that’s the case, what factors most affect their success and increase the likelihood of their obtaining a degree?
A recent study by the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University sought to shed light on the question. The Center interviewed students with disabilities from 2-year and 4-year colleges in New Jersey who had completed their degrees between 2008 and 2012. Common wisdom had suggested that the scope and quality of accommodations and academic adjustments would play the critical role in student success. The results, however, surprised even the study authors.
Study participants attributed their academic success to a combination of two factors:
- a strong relationship with a faculty or staff mentor; and,
- possessing strong personality traits, especially self-advocacy and perseverance.
The report also notes that the factors leading to success identified by the students with disabilities are much the same as those identified by other highly successful individuals: access to mentors; exposure to positive work and internship experiences; and the willingness and ability to use these experiences for personal and professional growth.
