Persons With Disabilities: Personnel

While there are no definitive statistics about and few studies of higher education staff and faculty with disabilities, it is likely they have always been part of higher education communities, if often unrecognized. Like other minoritized groups, disabled personnel (i.e., all staff members and faculty) working for higher education institutions experience stigma, stereotype, misrepresentation, discrimination, and oppression that challenge their ability to contribute fully to the success of their institutions and to be seen as competent, productive members of the community. Despite these barriers, disabled people have conducted discipline-changing work as scientists, artists, analysts, therapists, and in innumerable other roles, and their full inclusion is critical to the success of higher education institutions. What constitutes respectful, inclusive language around disability is highly context-dependent, depending on ...