Inclusive postsecondary education and self-determination: using photovoice to centre student voices in the United States of America

Abstract

Self-determination, or the freedom to act as the primary causal agent in one’s life, is a well-documented component of enhanced quality of life. Yet young adults with disabilities are often less self-determined than their nondisabled peers. Furthermore, there is an absence of the voices of young adults with disabilities in the literature related to self-determination. While research investigating populations positioned as marginalized has historically been defined by a marked power differential, separating the researcher from the participant, this study utilizes photovoice, a participatory method, to understand how U.S. college students with intellectual disabilities understand self-determination. We seek to trouble the dominant narrative that marginalizes students with intellectual disabilities and instead positions these emerging adults as experts in their own lives. From this study we illuminate how self-determination is enhanced through equality of opportunity and how sense of belonging is related to self-determination.