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Abstract:

Despite highlighting the fact that the voice of disabled students in higher education has been considered as the best way to understand their needs, it remains an inadequately heard one in developing economies. In order to address this gap, we study the challenges and opportunities of students in higher education in India. We explored the lived experiences of a total of 11 differently abled students pursuing higher education in India using phenomenological methodology. Participants in the study underwent semi-structured interviews to get a deep understanding of their needs in the institutional context, motivation to pursue higher education, problems they face in academics, perceived restrictions in their career ahead, and the challenges and opportunities they have to deal with in grabbing their dreams, etc. We conducted a progressive analysis of the data using a system of coding and categorization. The results also describe differently abled students' understanding of their teachers' and classmates' approaches towards them. The study brings in both theoretical as well as policy implications. Whereas the identification of themes like perceived fear for career growth would add value to the literature in building novel theoretical frameworks, themes like teaching pedagogy could be addressed by policymakers to improve the present scenario of higher education through greater inclusiveness.