Barriers in higher education: perceptions and discourse analysis of students with disabilities in Spain

Spanish universities must guarantee optimum accessibility to facilitate the teaching-learning process of students with disabilities. The objective of this study was to investigate how Spanish students with disabilities perceive access to Higher Education and the day-to-day of their academic life. A qualitative design was performed, using sequential discourse analysis adapted to the area of studies with people with disabilities. Two focus groups and sixteen interviews with university students with disabilities were analyzed. The discursive strategies of the students presented an asymmetry between the normative and the factual, although within a framework of inclusion and integration into university life. Six types of barriers were identified: computer, bureaucratic, and architectural -more intense in the traditional universities-, and learning, personal, and social barriers -stronger in online universities. To ensure the inclusion of students with disabilities, there is a need to increase information and training and to establish common procedures across Higher Education institutions. Points of interest Despite the legislative measures regarding inclusion in Higher Education, the representativeness of students with disabilities in Spain is low. Students with disabilities found six different types of barriers in accessing university studies in Spain. Research shows that Spanish university students with disabilities consider dropping out of Higher Education due to the difficulties they encounter on a day-to-day basis. Spanish university students with disabilities detect barriers that are specific to society, in general, and to the university system, in particular, that prevent a real equality beyond the deficits of their disabilities. Improvements should be oriented towards the training and awareness of the entire university community and its standards of practice.