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1. Examining physicists’ perspectives of career viability and knowledge of impairment

   https://doi.org/10.1119/perc.2021.pr.Oleynik  

   Oleynik, Dan P. ; Scanlon, Erin M. ; Chini, Jacquelyn J. ( January 2021 , Examining physicists’ perspectives of career viability and knowledge of impairment)

   Bennett, Michael ; Frank, Brian ; and Vieyra, Rebecca (Ed.)

   Physics mentors play an important role in supporting students in postsecondary education and in their transition to graduate school and careers. The knowledge and beliefs physics mentors have about disability can affect how they mentor students with disabilities. We administered the Disability and Physics Careers Survey (DPCS) to 237 practicing physicists recruited through physics-specific listservs to measure their knowledge about disability and beliefs about the viability of physics careers for people with different disability diagnoses. This study compares practicing physicists’ varied knowledge about different categories of impairments and diagnoses, and their beliefs about the viability of future careers for students with specific impairments. We present our findings examining the knowledge of practicing physicists about disability, their beliefs about the viability of certain physics careers for people with disabilities, and how those beliefs may vary depending on their personal disability experience. 

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2. Double Jeopardy? Disproportionality in First Juvenile Court Involvement by Disability Status

   https://doi.org/10.1177/0014402918819101  

   Kincaid, Aleksis P. ; Sullivan, Amanda L. ( January 2019 , Exceptional Children)

   The overrepresentation of youth with disabilities in the juvenile justice system is a persistent concern, but estimates of their involvement vary dramatically due to differences in how disability is conceptualized and when involvement in juvenile justice is measured. This study linked juvenile court and educational records for 230,760 students in one state to describe the involvement of students with and without disabilities in juvenile court. Overrepresentation of students with disabilities was not robust to sociodemographic controls (relative risk ratio [RR] = 1.07) but varied by disability category such that students with emotional or behavioral disorders (RR = 1.98) and other health impairments (RR = 1.12) remained overrepresented. Students with disabilities were charged with more severe offenses than their peers without disabilities and were more likely to be petitioned to court with a higher degree of offense even after controlling for the type of offense. Implications for policy, practice, and research are discussed.

    

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3. Physics instructors’ views about supporting learner variation: Modifying the Inclusive Teaching Strategies Inventory

   https://doi.org/10.1119/perc.2019.pr.Scanlon  

   Scanlon, Erin M. ; Chini, Jacquelyn J. ( January 2019 , 2019 Physics Education Research Conference)

   Every person has abilities across a multidimensional spectrum; however, previous research has indicated that postsecondary faculty are unaware of how to support students with a broad range of abilities in their courses and receive little training about inclusive teaching strategies. On average, STEM faculty have demonstrated more negative views toward students with disabilities than instructors from other disciplines. As such, we want to better understand physics instructors' beliefs about people with disabilities and their inclusive teaching practices. The Inclusive Teaching Strategies Inventory (ITSI) was developed to measure postsecondary instructors' beliefs and practices related to disability and supporting people with disabilities across disciplines. Through a pilot administration of this survey, we found that STEM faculty experienced difficulties in responding to the survey. Thus, we modified the ITSI for use with STEM faculty. We present our modification process, describe specific modifications made to the ITSI, and discuss preliminary interview and survey data. 

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4. Students' use of disability accommodations in emergency remote teaching

   https://doi.org/10.1119/perc.2021.pr.Scanlon  

   Scanlon, Erin M. ; Vignal, Michael ; Wilcox, Bethany R. ; Chini, Jacquelyn J. ( January 2021 , 2021 PERC Proceedings)

   Bennet, Michael ; Frank, Brian ; Vieyra, Rebecca (Ed.)

   Disability is an often-overlooked aspect of diversity. Recent research has indicated that there are barriers to access and participation for disabled students inherent in the design of physics courses. To help counteract these barriers, universities are required to provide reasonable accommodations for disabled students. However, not all students use the accommodations they have access to because of social factors (e.g., disability stigma), and others do not have access to the professional diagnosis often required to access accommodations. The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of students who identify with a disability/impairment who were taking an emergency remote teaching (ERT) physics course in Fall 2020 to inform policies about providing access to students in future remote and face-to-face courses. In this paper, we present the prevalence and types of impairments disabled students in physics courses reported, their reported accommodation usage, and ethical considerations of this work. Overall, we find that disabled students represent a sizeable group in physics courses, and there are positive and negative reasons students did not use or request accommodations. 

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5. Exploring student disability and professional identity: navigating sociocultural expectations in U.S. undergraduate civil engineering programs

   https://doi.org/10.1080/22054952.2020.1720434  

   McCall, Cassandra ; Shew, Ashley ; Simmons, Denise R. ; Paretti, Marie C. ; McNair, Lisa D. ( January 2020 , Australasian Journal of Engineering Education)

   National agencies throughout Australia and the United States (U.S.) have called for broadened participation in engineering, including participation by individuals with disabilities. However, studies demonstrate that students with disabilities are not effectively supported by university systems and cultures. This lack of support can shape how students form professional identities as they move through school and into careers. To better understand these experiences and create a more inclusive environment in engineering, we conducted a constructivist grounded theory exploration of professional identity formation in students who identify as having a disability as they study civil engineering and experience their first year of work. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 24 undergraduate civil engineering students across the U.S. and analysed them using grounded theory techniques. Navigating sociocultural expectations of disability emerged as one key theme, consisting of three strategy types: (1) neutrally satisfying expectations, (2) challenging expectations, and (3) aligning with expectations. Regardless of strategy, all participants navigated sociocultural expectations related to their studies and their disabilities. This theme highlights the ways sociocultural influences impact students’ navigation through their undergraduate civil engineering careers. These findings can be used to examine cultural barriers faced by students with disabilities to enhance their inclusion in engineering. 

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