Emily Achuck, B.S., & Ashley Woodman, Ph.D.
University of Massachusetts Amherst

Background

Students with intellectual disability (ID) are attending college at higher rates than ever before.
Through a variety of pathways, students with intellectual disability are experiencing the social, educational, and vocational benefits of higher education.
To be successfully integrated into campus life, however, students must be welcomed by their traditionally enrolled peers in all aspects of campus life.
The present study explores attitudes toward the value of college for students with intellectual disability from the perspective of traditionally enrolled students, with and without disability, at two time points (2017 and 2023).

Research Questions

Do students perceive college as equally valuable to students with intellectual disability compared to traditionally enrolled students such as themselves?
What background characteristics and experiences predict students’ attitudes toward inclusion of students with intellectual disability in higher education?
What do students anticipate as the primary challenges for students with intellectual disability and impacts on professors and students?
Differences by cohort (2017 vs. 2023) are explored.

Participants

Recruited from a large, public 4-year university in the Northeast of the United States.
Data from 195 students collected in 2017 and 133 students collected in 2023 were included in the analytic sample.
On average, students were 19 years of age (SD = 1.39) and in their second year of college.
Less than a third (23%) identified as men.
Student race:
- 67% White/Caucasian
- 22% Asian/Pacific Islander
- 9% Hispanic/Latinx
- 5% Black/African American
- 1% another race/ethnicity

Procedures

Students were invited to participate in an online survey on “attitudes toward the value of college” for extra credit in Psychology courses

Measures

Demographic factors: Age, gender, race/ethnicity, major, parent education, country of origin
College factors: Year, first generation status, transfer status, international student status, participation in disability-related campus groups
Experience with people with disabilities: Immediate or extended family member with a disability, extent of inclusion experienced in elementary, middle, and high school, self-identification with a disability
Value of college: Students completed the Perceived Instrumentality of the College Test (PICT; Constantinople, 1967) for “you and other college students like you” then for “students with intellectual disability”. They were asked to indicate the extent to which they felt 14 different aspects of the college experience were important, from 1 = Not at All Important to 5 = Extremely Important. Sample items include “acquiring an appreciation of ideas”, “personal independence”, and “preparing for a career”.
Attitudes toward inclusion: Students completed the Attitudes Toward Students with Disability Scale (Westling et al., 2013). They were asked to indicate the extent to which they agreed with 10 statements on the benefits of college for students with intellectual disability, on a scale from 1 = Strongly Disagree to 5 = Strongly Agree. Sample items include “typical college students can benefit from attending a college that includes students with intellectual disability”, “students with intellectual disability have behaviors that will disrupt a class” (reverse coded).
Perceived challenges and impacts: Students were asked the following open-ended questions:
- What challenges do you think a student with an intellectual disability would experience on a college campus?
- How do you think college classes and campus life would impact a student with an intellectual disability?
- How do you think a student with an intellectual disability would impact a professor/instructor?

Quantitative Results

Do students perceive college as equally valuable to students with intellectual disability compared to traditionally enrolled students such as themselves?

In the 2017 cohort, student felt college overall had more value for traditionally enrolled students compared to students with ID. However, this difference was not present in the 2023 cohort.
There were no differences in the perceived benefits of college for students with ID by cohort.

Table

Items rated as more important, just as important, or less important for students with ID compared to traditionally enrolled students (across both cohorts)

More important for students with ID	Just as important for students with ID	Less important for students with ID
Becoming self-confident	Acquiring an appreciation of ideas	Achieving good academic distinction
Learning how to learn from books and teachers	Developing your ability to get along with different kinds of people	Preparing for a career which requires further study beyond the B.A. or B.S.
Contributing in a distinguished and meaningful manner to some campus group	Having many good friends

What background characteristics and experiences predict students’ attitudes toward inclusion of students with intellectual disability in higher education?

Although a variety of background factors were considered, only identifying as a man, having a family member with a disability, experiencing inclusive educational settings in middle school significantly predicted more positive attitudes toward inclusion of students with ID in college.
These predictors did not differ by cohort.
There were no mean-level differences in attitudes toward inclusion by cohort.

Qualitative Results

Anticipated Challenges

Theme	Percentage of participants 2017	Percentage of participants 2023
Social	100.00%	82.61%
Academics	90.85%	80.43%
Personal	14.79%	30.43%
Communication	5.63%	19.57%
Campus	14.79%	8.70%
Parents	1.41%	0.00%

Social: making friends, discrimination/bullying
Academics: understanding material, keeping up with assignments
Personal: lack of independence skills, insecurities
Communication: with peers, with professors
Campus: navigating campus, number of people

Anticipated Impact on Professor

Most anticipated impacts were positive (70% of all participants), including enhancement of teaching style, better connection with students.
Neutral (39%) comments included the necessity of course adaptations or no expected impact
Negative (26%) impacts included taking up too much of the professor’s time or creating more work for them.

Anticipated Impact on Student

Similar to impact on professors, anticipated impacts on students were overwhelming positive (82%), including increased opportunities they would not get outside of college and increased independence.
Negative (60%) impacts included college life being too hectic and overwhelming as well as trouble interacting with people.

Conclusion

Traditionally enrolled students are overwhelmingly in support of students with ID being included in higher education. They perceived many of the same benefits of college they experience to apply to students with ID. The findings suggest that typically developing peers are unlikely to present a barrier to the success of students with ID on college campus.