Moving beyond the Medical Model: Why Critical Disability Studies Should Guide Accessibility Services in Higher Education
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| Title: | Moving beyond the Medical Model: Why Critical Disability Studies Should Guide Accessibility Services in Higher Education |
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| Language: | English |
| Authors: | Stacyann Williams |
| Source: | Online Submission. 2026. |
| Peer Reviewed: | N |
| Page Count: | 30 |
| Publication Date: | 2026 |
| Document Type: | Reports - Evaluative |
| Education Level: | Higher Education Postsecondary Education |
| Descriptors: | Higher Education, Accessibility (for Disabled), Students with Disabilities, Attitudes toward Disabilities, Educational Environment, School Responsibility, Disability Identification, Experience, Student School Relationship, Individual Needs |
| Abstract: | Accessibility Services have become an integral component of higher education, supporting disabled students through academic accommodations intended to promote equitable participation. Despite legislative progress and institutional commitments to equity, diversity, and inclusion, many accessibility services continue to operate within a medical model of disability that emphasizes diagnosis, documentation, and individualized accommodation. Although this model has expanded access to postsecondary education, it often positions disability as an individual deficit rather than examining how institutional policies, practices, and cultures create barriers to inclusion. Critical Disability Studies (CDS) offers an alternative framework by conceptualizing disability as a social, political, and cultural phenomenon shaped by ableism, power, and systemic inequities while recognizing disabled people as experts in their own lived experiences. Drawing upon disability scholarship and qualitative findings from Absent Students: A Critical Disabilities Studies Approach to Accessibility Services, this article argues that universities should move beyond reliance on the medical model and adopt CDS as the guiding framework for accessibility services. The findings demonstrate that students' experiences are shaped less by impairment than by institutional structures, unequal power relationships, inconsistent implementation of accommodations, and limited opportunities for meaningful participation in decision-making. Reimagining accessibility services through a CDS lens shifts the focus from individualized accommodation toward institutional transformation, collaborative practice, and anti-ableist approaches that position disabled students as partners in creating more equitable and inclusive postsecondary environments. |
| Abstractor: | As Provided |
| Entry Date: | 2026 |
| Accession Number: | ED682229 |
| Database: | ERIC |
| Abstract: | Accessibility Services have become an integral component of higher education, supporting disabled students through academic accommodations intended to promote equitable participation. Despite legislative progress and institutional commitments to equity, diversity, and inclusion, many accessibility services continue to operate within a medical model of disability that emphasizes diagnosis, documentation, and individualized accommodation. Although this model has expanded access to postsecondary education, it often positions disability as an individual deficit rather than examining how institutional policies, practices, and cultures create barriers to inclusion. Critical Disability Studies (CDS) offers an alternative framework by conceptualizing disability as a social, political, and cultural phenomenon shaped by ableism, power, and systemic inequities while recognizing disabled people as experts in their own lived experiences. Drawing upon disability scholarship and qualitative findings from Absent Students: A Critical Disabilities Studies Approach to Accessibility Services, this article argues that universities should move beyond reliance on the medical model and adopt CDS as the guiding framework for accessibility services. The findings demonstrate that students' experiences are shaped less by impairment than by institutional structures, unequal power relationships, inconsistent implementation of accommodations, and limited opportunities for meaningful participation in decision-making. Reimagining accessibility services through a CDS lens shifts the focus from individualized accommodation toward institutional transformation, collaborative practice, and anti-ableist approaches that position disabled students as partners in creating more equitable and inclusive postsecondary environments. |
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