Agency through partnership in neurodiverse college learning communities

Authors

  • Lydia Indira Fisher Portland State University
  • Grace Piper
  • Hannah Werthman

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15173/ijsap.v5i2.4398

Keywords:

inclusion, accessibility, agency, intellectual disability, teaching and learning, education, peer mentors

Abstract

This article examines the work of creating collaborative learning partnerships that fully include students with intellectual disabilities. The article reviews the scholarship of partnership as a starting point in discussing learning environments that support students with significant intellectual disabilities—a group that has only recently been encouraged to enroll in colleges and universities. The authors—a faculty member and two former undergraduate mentors in the University Studies program at Portland State University—offer reflections on their time partnering as facilitators of courses that include students with intellectual disabilities. They then analyze those reflections in relation to the scholarship of partnership and special education. The article presents evidence that the partnership approach to learning is more fully realized through intentional investment in universal design for learning principles and extended support networks invested in collaboration and interpersonal relationship. These approaches effectively bring students with disabilities into the center of educational environments and maintain their agency in shaping their learning communities.

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Published

2021-11-17

How to Cite

Fisher, L. I., Piper, G., & Werthman, H. (2021). Agency through partnership in neurodiverse college learning communities . International Journal for Students as Partners, 5(2), 14–27. https://doi.org/10.15173/ijsap.v5i2.4398

Issue

Section

Research Articles