Disability and the University

Disability and the University: A Disabled Students’ Manifesto is a guide to what students with disabilities need to know about attending university, as well as to the essentials universities should provide for these students. Each chapter presents a benchmark for students to follow as they travel through the institution, and lays clear what they should expect. Written by former students with disabilities who have traversed the terrain and experienced higher education, this book is not about disabled students, but instead is a manifesto, a call for change, a call to action. It is a guide book, blueprint, and tool for both students and universities.

Disability and the University is divided into four parts, each examining crucial aspects of higher education, including the culture of the academy, movement beyond the limits of compliance, access to and in the institution, and disability rights. Each chapter is a statement of what every institution of higher education should provide for disabled students.

While every country has its own practice and laws based on its own experience, arbitrary national boundaries should no longer be a reason for practices that do not meet student needs. Disability and the University speaks across borders, and leaves no doubt about what needs to be done to develop more inclusive teaching and learning spaces.

Christopher McMaster, PhD, is the author of Educating All: Developing Inclusive School Cultures from Within (Peter Lang). He is the creator and lead editor of the Survive and Succeed postgraduate student support series, with editions published on the UK, USA, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Scandinavia. Dr. McMaster has most recently been Assistant Professor of Education of Special Education at Augsburg College, Minneapolis, USA. He has since returned to his adopted home of New Zealand where he teaches in the local community on a Pacific voyaging canoe and writes novels.

Benjamin Whitburn, PhD, lectures in inclusive education at Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia, in the undergraduate and postgraduate teacher education programs. He has published a body of literature in the field of disability studies in education that explores in particular how knowledge on disability translates to policy and practice in diverse educational contexts. In addition to the current volume, Dr. Whitburn coedited Postgraduate Study in Australia (Peter Lang) with Christopher McMaster, Caterina Murphy and Inger Mewburn.