Why College? Using Community Engaged Research to Explore the Perspectives of Students with Intellectual Disabilities on the Importance of Access to Higher Education

Abstract

Students with intellectual disabilities have historically been written “about” in research and scholarly literature with little emphasis on what they have to say about the research process. In this project, PSE One, a postsecondary education program for students with Intellectual Disabilities at the university level challenges this “exclusion” in its use of community engaged research as a part of its program evaluation. This paper highlights the initial stages of this ongoing research process, preliminary discussion of results, and a discussion about how community engaged research reflects the concept of visionary pragmatism.