Perceptions of Self-Advocacy Responsibility for Students with Disabilities In Higher Education: A Comparative Study of School Social Workers, Caregivers, and Disability Office Personnel

Background

While it can be difficult to discuss students with disabilities (SWDs) as a monolith, there are consistent outcomes compared to students without disabilities within higher education settings. Approximately 21% of undergraduate students identified as having a disability during the 2019-2020 academic year (Postsecondary National Policy Institute, 2023), yet they graduate at significantly lower rates than their peers that do not. Moreover, disability services provided under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act differs from provisions under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in terms of autonomy and self-determination for the student. Students in higher education must be able to self-advocate for their educational needs for success, versus having a mandated team assess for needed services.

While professional collaboration has been well-established as beneficial for SWDs, collaboration is often confined to K-12 individualized education program (IEP) meetings, which isolates support to high school staff, such as school social workers, and precludes college disability office personnel from participation prior to the start of college courses. This exploratory study sought to utilize rigorous inquiry to examine the following questions: 1) Who do school social workers, disability office personnel, and caregivers identify as primarily responsible or lead for tasks related to building self-advocacy skills for secondary school SWDs transitioning to higher education, and 2) To what extent does a person’s own role predict their perception of their own responsibility?

Methods

A cross-sectional survey design was employed with a sample of school social workers, college disability staff (N = 379). Participants were assessed on seven transition tasks categorized into administrative, pedagogical and troubleshooting themes. Data were analyzed using chi-square tests of independence with adjusted residuals to identify disconnects, followed by multinomial logistic regression to assess the predictive power of professional roles.

Results

Chi-square analyses revealed significant role-based differences across all tasks. While perception consensus existed for administrative tasks, adjusted residuals revealed a siloed effect. School social workers significantly over identified themselves as responsible for pedagogical and troubleshooting-related tasks, while caregivers and disability office personnel under identified school social workers as responsible for the same tasks. Regression models indicated participant role as a predictor for perception of responsibility, with school social workers having up to 17 times higher odds of claiming responsibility compared to other stakeholders.

Conclusion

While not causal, the findings indicate a need to explore perceptions of the social work role in preparing SWDs for self-advocacy. Effective implementation of self-advocacy interventions for SWDs may require moving beyond skill acquisition to interprofessional collaboration across education spheres, rooted in participatory leadership.