Invisible Disability Matters: Faculty and Student Perceptions in a Canadian Initial Teacher Education Program
Abstract
This qualitative exploratory case study investigated the learning experiences and needs of invisibly disabled teacher candidates in an Initial Teacher Education program in Ontario, Canada. The study further examined opportunities and challenges for educational leadership in areas including professional development and systemic culture change as potential mechanisms for enhancing student access to inclusive learning environments. The study invoked critical theory as the epistemological framework and critical disability theory as the theoretical framework to assimilate findings from a critical standpoint grounded in social justice and equity.
Data collection entailed (a) semi-structured online interviews with a total of 14 participants (seven students, seven faculty) from the focal program, and (b) critical analysis of the program’s Policy on Student Disability Accommodation to determine the degree to which the policy appreciates the complex nature of (invisible) disability and welcomes systemic change. Interview transcripts were subjected to member checking for triangulation purposes. The study’s findings revealed a diverse set of experiences and needs that exist among invisibly disabled teacher candidates in their day-to-day learning environments in the program. Participants recognized experiences with respect to ableist microaggressions, a general distrust toward invisible disabilities, fear concerning consequences following disclosure, as well as navigation of several structural, programmatic, and physical barriers to success as commonplace for invisibly disabled teacher candidates in the program.
At the same time, participants identified several learning needs including the need for positive messaging from faculty regarding supports and resources, the need for classroom teaching practices that align with the Universal Design of Learning (UDL), and the need for versatility in leadership practice so that multiple and competing areas of need (e.g., calls for social justice, funding uncertainties) may be accommodated. Overall, findings from both the qualitative interviews and the document analysis underscored a need for development of a more nuanced and informed understanding of invisible disability in Canadian university environments where a greater appreciation of its complexities, including intersectionality, may improve attitudes toward and the overall learning experience of invisibly disabled students.
The study is expected to make contributions to the knowledge base of course instructors in the focal program concerning key areas of need, including UDL principles, that require attention for increasing inclusion and improving the learning experience of invisibly disabled teacher candidates in their classrooms. Moreover, the study is expected to provide an impetus for educational leaders and policy-makers in Canadian faculties of education to take concrete steps such as critical consciousness training/development among faculty and accommodation policy overhaul as initial steps toward creating inclusive learning environments for the population of interest. Additionally, the study highlights dilemmas that often exist for the Canadian university system with respect to balancing the tensions between human rights-based legislative demands for equity and university-based demands for bureaucracy and standardization.