ERIC Number: EJ1459342
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2025
Pages: 16
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0316-1218
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Unexpected Journeys: The Professional Identity Development of Canadian Accessibility Advisors
Brenda McDermott
Canadian Journal of Higher Education, v55 n1 p69-84 2025
Through examining nine Accessibility Advisors' (AAs) stories of becoming professionals in their field, this study provides an important entry point into understanding the individuals whose work is central to supporting students with disabilities within Canadian research-intensive post-secondary institutions. AAs function as Third Space professionals, whose work straddles the academic/non-academic binary. Using a narrative interview prompt, the respondents describe an unplanned, but formative, journey that led to a committed career in disability advising. The analysis focuses on how respondents consciously and selectively create meaning between experiences using a three-dimensional analysis which examines temporality, sociability, and spatiality within narratives. The AAs' construction of their professional identities provides a lens through which to view how post-secondary disability support is tied to the medicalization of disability and advisors' acknowledgement of the social construction of disability. This study articulates how AAs are socialized to understand the value of the accommodations process, and how situating their work is neither faculty- nor student-aligned.
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Higher Education, Students with Disabilities, Accessibility (for Disabled), Student Personnel Services, Student Personnel Workers, Counseling Services, Professional Identity, Student Adjustment, College Faculty
Canadian Society for the Study of Higher Education. P.O. Box 34091, RPO Fort Richmond, Winnipeg, MB R3T 5T5, Canada. Tel: 204-474-6404; Fax: 204-474-7561; e-mail: csshe@cc.umanitoba.ca; Web site: http://journals.sfu.ca/cjhe/index.php/cjhe/index
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Canada
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A