ATTENDING LECTURES WITHOUT BARRIERS: THE CASE FOR STUDENTS WHO ARE DEAF AND HARD OF HEARING

 

Magda Nikolaraizi^1* and Christina Kofidou^2*

¹Associate Professor, Department of Special Education, University of Thessaly, Greece, mnikolar@uth.gr

²PhD student, Department of Special Education, University of Thessaly, Greece, ckofidou@sed.uth.gr

*Corresponding author

 

Abstract

The access and participation of deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) students in higher education is a challenging issue. Students who are DHH face several barriers especially in relation to their access and participation during lectures. Several factors are associated with these barriers, which are associated with the level of accessibility of higher education institutions (HEIs). The aim of the present study is to examine the experiences of students who are DHH regarding their access during lectures. Twenty semi-structured interviews were conducted with DHH students, aged 21 to 40 years, attending several departments of HEIs in Greece. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data and the software ATLAS-ti.8 was used to process and analyze the data collected from students’ interviews. The analysis of the data indicated that the most important factors that were associated with the students’ academic access were environmental factors, the availability and quality of support services and the lecturers’ practices. The discussion focuses on the importance of support services and the need for accessible institutions. Therefore, it is of major importance for all HEIs that want to be accessible and inclusive for students who are DHH to develop services, awareness programs and make adjustments in order to enhance the access of students who are DHH especially during lectures.

Keywords: deaf, hard of hearing, access, higher education, inclusion.