11104 - Common misconceptions of disabled students: The construction of ableism in higher education.
This study centers the voices of 50 disabled students in higher education institutions in North America, to unpack systemic ableism and its manifestation in misconceptions toward them. Drawing on the field of critical disability studies, the article discusses overt and subtle manifestations of ableism in higher education by challenging four prevalent misconceptions toward disabled students. These include disabled students as absent, deficient, burden/lazy, and tokens. The students’ counter-na...