Abstract

This study was conducted in order to explore the diverse problems encountered by the students with disabilities while receiving higher education at the university level. This study was intended to provide insight in to what it is like to be a student with a disability and raises questions about higher education’s provision and equality of access. It was clear that the University Grants Commission came up with policies/schemes for providing friendly access to students with disabilities at higher education. The Persons with Disabilities Act 1995, proclaims that students with disability have every right to access different levels streams and degrees offered by higher education. For this study data was drawn from 30 respondents by using in-depth-interview method with a semi-structured questionnaire. The main objective of the study is to explore the student’s perspectives of their social and educational experiences and their challenges in undertaking higher education at the university. Secondly, to analyze the factors that facilitates or hinders the process of educational advancement for these students in the university. The findings show that most of the students experienced barriers to accessing their education relating to the physical environment or teaching and learning (or both) at some point during their studies. Some disabled students lacked social networks and were uninvolved with extra-curricular activities, thus reducing opportunities for informal learning, which is an important aspect of higher education experience.