Environmental barriers as a factor affecting the ways in which students with disabilities construct their career design

Abstract

Problem and Aim. Authors highlight the following contradiction: whilst on the one hand, in Russia, as in many European countries, disability services have been created to support career design for students with disabilities (SWD), on the other hand, career support in universities is loosely related to the accessibility of the environment. This inconsistency determines the relevance of this study. The purpose of the article is to demonstrate the negative impact that environmental barriers have on SWD' career prospects, as well as to reveal the role of environmental barriers at the moment when a person becomes aware of a new stage of their life trajectory. Materials and research methods. The study is based on the methodology of conducting narrative interviews based on the methodology of F. Schutze. The narrative interview methodology allows revealing the basic barriers of career design as they emerge and shows the importance of instrumental barriers at the time of choosing a future career. The weakness of the method consists of subjectivity and self-censorship. Interpretive analysis was used to analyze the obtained data. In the course of the study, 4 narratives of SWD (first-year students, 2 men and 2 women) studying in higher educational institutions in two regions of Russia were recorded and analyzed. The totality of the interviewed persons was considered homogeneous, taking into account the fact that when using this method, even one qualified interview can provide sufficiently complete information. Research results. The research outcome demonstrates that one of the main barriers that prevent SWD from designing and constructing their future as a new stage in their life strategy is the limitations of physical accessibility of the space of educational institutions as an agent of primary and secondary socialization. Conclusion. Based on an interpretive analysis of the data from narrative interviews, a conclusion was made about the importance of the physical accessibility of universities at the time of professional choice. It has been proven that at this moment it is the material environment that influences the understanding of one's potential, and not the situation of disability as such.