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Policy-makers have articulated the right to education for individuals with disabilities. Nevertheless, students with disabilities remain underrepresented in universities. Students in Health and Human Service (HHS) programs experience many unique challenges that disadvantage them, such as having to complete practicums. In-depth interviews were conducted with 12 students in HHS programs who identified as having a disability to explore the challenges that they experienced. We found that students had to legitimate their ability to perform the roles of student and future practitioner. This legitimization process involved three components: negotiation of the disability label, selective disclosure, and advocacy. Our findings demonstrate how subtle and insidious forms of marginalization and stigmatization work to create barriers for students with disabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes the experience of Lisa, one of the co-authors, as a student with a disability completing a Bachelor of Social Work degree in Western Canada. This personal narrative of the physical, relational, attitudinal, curricular and resource aspects of Lisa's education identifies barriers experienced in the educational and practice environments, and highlights strategies that assisted in addressing these barriers. The article specifically relates Lisa's progression through the programme, including accounts of classroom and field experiences, relationships with faculty and students, resource, policy and accommodation issues, and the needs and human rights of a student with a disability. The narrative celebrates the success of a student in an environment (the university) that many believe to be more accommodating and supportive than other public and private organizations. Recommendations for both educational and social work practice organizations are provided. As a co-author of the article, Lisa was an active participant at every stage of the research and development of the article—narrative interview, analysis, identification of themes, connection to theory and literature, and presentation and final writing of the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]