Perceived Support Services for Undergraduate Students with Disabilities at Higher Education Institutions in Ethiopia
Keywords:
Support services, pedagogical, institutional, psychosocial, Student with disabilities (SWDs), student with hearing impairment (SwHI), student with visual impairment (SwVI) and student with Motor impairment (SwMI)Abstract
Access to enrollment of students with disabilities (SWDs) at higher education has
increased in the last few decades both globally and in Ethiopia. Support is at the
heart of successful completion of higher education. The present study was intended to
investigate the perception of undergraduate SWDs about the nature of support services
(SS) they received. It specifically examined the received SS (pedagogical, institutional
and psychosocial variables), its accessibility and adequacy. To achieve its objectives,
pragmatic research philosophy and mixed research design was employed. A total of 256
participants were selected from four universities (Addis Ababa, Bahir Dar, Gondar and
Dilla) using stratified random sampling combined with purposive sampling techniques.
Questionnaire, semi structured interview and Focus Group Discussion (FGD) were
employed for data collection. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis, descriptive
statistics, one sample t test and MANOVA. The findings generally revealed that the
supports were insufficient. The type of impairments seemed to make a more significant
difference in obtaining supports. Thus, despite valuable steps taken towards supporting
SWDs, it was still not fully structured and implemented to fit with students’ support
needs. Hence, this study recommended that higher education institutions need to be
guided by comprehensively set national policy and strategic framework to improve
their efficiency and effectiveness in supporting SWDs.