Young adults with intellectual disability tell the story of their own experience of higher education
How do students with intellectual disability experience higher education? Creating Our Own Lives addresses this question through the eyes of participants themselves. In relating their experiences and aspirations, these student perspectives mount a powerful challenge to assumptions that intellectual disability is best met with protection or segregation.
Taken together, the essays expose and contradict the inherently ableist claim that individuals with intellectual disability cannot be reliable storytellers. Instead, their deeply informative stories serve as a corrective narrative. The first of the four sections, "Laying the Foundation: Why Everyone Belongs in College," focuses on belonging and inclusion; the second, "Opening Up Possibilities: Overcoming Doubt and Uncertainty," conveys the optimism of this generation of advocates through stories of personal hardship, hopeful perseverance, and triumph over adversity; the third, "Inclusion as Action: Diversifying Student Experiences," supports the understanding of diverse student experiences in inclusive higher education; and the fourth, "Supporting Growth: Peer Mentoring and Advice," offers guidance to those reimagining and creating educational spaces.
Students with disabilities belong in higher education. Not only does this book serve as an important record of students enrolled in inclusive higher education programs, it is also an unprecedented resource, packed with information and inspiration both for parents seeking opportunities for their children and for individuals with intellectual disability who aspire to attend college.
Contributors: Makayla Adkins, Olivia Baist, Brandon Baldwin, George Barham, Marquavious Barnes, Katie Bartlett, Steven Brief, De'Onte Brown, Meghan Brozaitis, Mary Bryant, Gracie Carrol, Taylor Cathey, Maia Chamberlain, Antonio E. Contreras, Kim Dean, Elizabeth Droessler, Katie Ducett, Keiron Dyck, Rachel Gomez, Deriq Graves, Micah Gray, Maggie Guillaume, Cleo Hamilton, Nathan Heald, Joshua R. Hourigan, Hannah Lenae Humes, Courtney Jorgensen, Eilish Kelderman, Kailin Kelderman, Kenneth Kelty, Kaelan Knowles, Karlee Lambert, Kate Lisotta, Rachel Mast, Elise McDaniel, Emma Miller, Jake Miller, Lydia Newnum, Brenna Mantz Nielsen, Carly O'Connell, Nadia Osbey, Stirling Peebles, Breyan Pettaway, Amanda Pilkenton, True Rafferty, Taylor Ruppe, Lawrence Sapp, Tyler Shore, Brianna Silva, Alex Smith, Elliott Smith, Phillandra Smith, Payton Storms, Allen Thomas, Kylie Walter, Stephen Wanser, Sayid Webb, Breana Whittlesey, Luke Wilcox, Adam Wolfond.
Table of Contents:
Contents
Introduction: Recognizing Student Voice in Inclusive Higher Education
Michael Gill and Beth Myers
Part I. Laying the Foundation: Why Everyone Belongs in College
1. I Want to Go to College
Antonio E. Contreras
2. I Got In
Taylor Ruppe
3. Adventures in Postsecondary Education
Stirling Peebles
4. A Language to Open
Adam Wolfond
5. “The Wanderer” and “This Is What I Sing”
Steven Brief
6. My History of the Excel Program
Alex Smith
7. Taking the Llama for a Walk and Other Things That Helped Us
Olivia Baist and Kylie Walter
Part II. Opening Up Possibilities: Overcoming Doubt and Uncertainty
8. Being Independent Has Risks: How to Recover When Something Terrible Happens
Kailin Kelderman, Eilish Kelderman, and Mary Bryant
9. Spartan Kid: Journeys
Brandon Baldwin
10. Best Experiences at IDEAL
De’Onte Brown, Deriq Graves, Nadia Osbey, Breyan Pettaway, and Sayid Webb
11. Two Poems
Carly O’Connell
12. Goal(s) in Common
Hannah Lenae Humes
13. I Did What They Said I Couldn’t
Allen Thomas
14. Climbing Higher and “From Mission Impossible to Mission Possible”
Courtney Jorgensen
15. Inclusive College on Zoom? My Inclusive Higher Education 2020 Experience
Stephen Wanser, Kate Lisotta, and Kim Dean
16. Inclusive College for All and How My Perception of My History Prof Changed
Keiron Dyck
17. Qua’s GT Excel Life and “Never Give Up”
Marquavious Barnes
18. Photo Essays and Selections from Student Leadership Conference 2019
Breana Whittlesey, Kaelan Knowles, Elise McDaniel, Kenneth Kelty, Katie Bartlett, and Rachel Mast
Part III. Inclusion as Action: Diversifying Student Experiences
19. Hi, I’m Jake Miller
Jake Miller and Katie Ducett
20. “BGWYN” and “Confidence with Curves”
Taylor Cathey
21. Inclusive College Education
Micah Gray, with Karlee Lambert and Lydia Newnum
22. My UC Perspective
Joshua R. Hourigan
23. Phoenix Nation as in Spirit
Cleo Hamilton
24. My Excel Story
George Barham
25. #CreatingMyOwnLife
Payton Storms
26. Inclusive College Education
Makayla Adkins
27. My Story about Aggies Elevated at Utah State University
Brenna Mantz Nielsen
28. Questions and Answers
Lawrence Sapp
29. College Memories but Ready for What’s Next
Amanda Pilkenton
30. Full Year of College
Luke Wilcox
31. My Favorite Memories in College
Elizabeth Droessler
Part IV. Supporting Growth: Peer Mentoring and Support
32. Communicating Successfully in College
Maia Chamberlain
33. True Rafferty Interviewed
True Rafferty, with Nathan Heald
34. College Program Experience
Gracie Carroll
35. Teaching, Assisting, Reflecting: Our Experience Working Together
Phillandra Smith and Meghan Brozaitis
36. My Georgia Tech Excel Story
Maggie Guillaume
37. Emma’s Journey
Emma Miller
38. Come Read about My Awesome Journeys through Life
Brianna Silva
39. My Social Experience throughout Georgia Tech
Rachel Gomez
40. The Importance of Goals
Tyler Shore
41. Support and Encouragement for the Ones Who Seek It
Elliott Smith
Coda: Why This Collection?
Beth Myers and Michael Gill
Acknowledgments
Contributors
About the Author :
Michael Gill is associate professor of disability studies at Syracuse University. He is author of Allergic Intimacies: Food, Disability, Desire, and Risk and Already Doing It: Intellectual Disability and Sexual Agency (Minnesota, 2015).
Beth Myers is Lawrence B. Taishoff Professor of Inclusive Education at Syracuse University. She is executive editor of the Journal of Inclusive Postsecondary Education and author of Autobiography on the Spectrum: Disrupting the Autism Narrative.
Review :
"I like Creating Our Own Lives because people with disabilities talked about being in college and shared their stories in their own words. And they really shared their experiences, not just about how everything is great, but about how it is to be in college and what Syracuse is like for people with disabilities. Beth Myers and Michael Gill also shared, and that made the book great to read."-Tia Nelis, Director of Policy and Advocacy, TASH
