Article

Reporting from the Margins: Disabled Academics Reflections on Higher Education

Authors:

Abstract

This article is rooted in the narratives of four disabled people with obvious impairments within higher education institutions (HEI). Their lived experiences highlight how the adoption of the neoliberal agenda by HEIs has ensured the continued exclusion of disabled academics. This article shares how the implementation of mainstream business structures, and the business ethos, has been experienced by disabled academics seeking equality of education and professional academic opportunities. It demonstrates the personal impacts that can occur when institutions vehemently value income over inclusion and when academic staff adhere to these standards. If the doors to academia were closed to disabled people in the past, neoliberalism has surely locked them.

Keywords:

higher education institutionsdisabilityacademiadisabledneoliberalismacademic
  • Year: 2020
  • Volume: 22 Issue: 1
  • Page/Article: 265–274
  • DOI: 10.16993/sjdr.670
  • Submitted on 3 Sep 2019
  • Accepted on 26 Aug 2020
  • Published on 23 Sep 2020
  • Peer Reviewed