Neįgaliųjų studentų dalyvavimas Lietuvos aukštosiose mokyklose ; The Participation of Disabled Students in Lithuanian Higher Education Institutions
Equal opportunities to study in higher education institutions for disabled people are guaranteed by national legislation. However, in practice students with disabilities face various kind of problems while pursuing for education. The goal of this dissertation is to create a grounded theory about disabled students participation in Lithuanian higher education institutions. The research questions were formulated: how are disabled students implementing their agency while participating in the study process in higher education institutions? How does the creation of studying conditions take place in higher education institutions regarding the interaction between disabled students and the members of the academic community? How does the disabled student's identity change during participation in higher education? The Grounded Theory was chosen here as the methodology of qualitative research. There have been conducted 32 semi-structured interviews with students having different kind of disabilities. Grounded theory about disabled students' participation in Lithuanian higher education institutions was created. This theory does reveal that the reasons of disabled students' individual acts are the restrictions of participation in institutions as well as their aspiration of equality. Disabled students are starting to eliminate the restrictions of participation according to their capacities. Empirical data is analyzed in the light of A. Giddens' theory of structuration, models of disability, changing identity and other researches in this field. Created grounded theory about disabled students participation does confirm the main idea of A. Giddens theory of structuration that disabled students starts to reproduce the structure of higher education institution while implementing their agency and the structure in turn does restrict their actions.