Lived Experiences of Ableism in Academia: Strategies for Inclusion in Higher Education

Description

This book focuses on ableism in academia and provides practical recommendations to improve working and learning environments for staff and students based on the first-hand experience of contributors with a range of illness, disability and neurodiversity. Demands for excellence and efficiency have created an ableist culture in academia. What impact do these expectations have on disabled, chronically ill and neurodiverse colleagues? This important and eye-opening collection explores ableism in academia from the viewpoint of academics' personal and professional experiences and scholarship. Through the theoretical lenses of autobiography, autoethnography, embodiment, body work and emotional labour, contributors present insightful, critical, analytical and rigorous explorations of being 'othered' in academia. Deeply embedded in personal experiences, this perceptive book provides examples for universities to develop inclusive practices, accessible working and learning conditions and a less ableist environment.

Nicole Brown is Director of Social Research & Practice and Education Ltd and Lecturer in Education in the Department of Culture, Communication and Media at the UCL Institute of Education.

"Provides a new and meaningful perspective of disabled academics' perceptions and experiences related to their participation within academia... an important text that explores the diverse experiences of disability and the personal accounts of experienced ableism in the post-secondary environment." Higher Education Quarterly