Unveiling ableism and disablism in assessment: a critical analysis of disabled students’ experiences of assessment and assessment accommodations - Finland
This study examines the underlying mechanisms of ableism and disablism in the assessment of student learning in higher education. Globally, higher education institutions rely strongly on assessment accommodations (e.g., extra time in tests) to ensure disabled students’ participation in assessment. Even though research on disabled students’ experiences of assessment has repeatedly shown that both assessment and assessment accommodations cause barriers for disabled students’ inclusion, critically oriented research on this topic has been scarce. This study offers a novel, critical means of discussing assessment from the viewpoints of diversity and inclusion. It also proposes future trajectories for anti-ableist assessment approaches that understand diversity as enriching, rather than obscuring, assessment. (May 2022)