NDPR Funding: Designing a Continuum of Best Practices for the Inclusion of Students with Intellectual Disabilities in Higher Education
In its first funding round, the National Disability Research Partnership (NDRP) has awarded $1 million to nine research projects nationally and Designing a Continuum of Best Practices for the Inclusion of Students with Intellectual Disabilities in Higher Education is one of the projects
This research project will be informed by, and conducted with, people with lived experience of intellectual disability, this study will analyse the current approaches and benefits of the only two Australian programs which include young people with intellectual disability in higher education.
While some advocates do exist at a local level, unfortunately the inclusion of people with intellectual disability in higher education is not being addressed at a national policy level. By collating evidence on the Australian experience for the first time, and contextualising this national evidence within the wider international experience, this project will establish how Australia can progress national policy, and will inform implementation of higher-level education opportunities for people with intellectual disability.
The project follows the lead of North American and European examples of networks of inclusive programs pooling together knowledge, evidence, and experience to develop national evidence-based programs of inclusion.
Project Team
- Dr Nikki Wedgwood (Lead Investigator) – Senior Lecturer, Participation Sciences, School of Health Science, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney
- Associate Prof Mary-Ann O’Donovan – Executive Director, Centre for Disability Studies, School of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney
- Dr Fiona Rillotta – Senior Lecturer, College of Nursing and Health Sciences, Flinders University