Barriers and Facilitators to Access to Post-secondary Education for Students with Learning Disabilities: A Narrative Literature Review

Abstract

Our narrative literature review sought to identify potential barriers and facilitators to access to academic participation for post-secondary students with learning disabilities. A search of eight databases yielded over 1600 possible articles, reduced to 107 after applying selection criteria. We identified three themes: accommodations, self-advocacy, and supports. We found that current efforts are focused primarily on the provision of individualized accommodations to help students adapt to an inaccessible academic environment, despite a scarcity of evidence confirming their efficacy. Students must submit a psychoeducational assessment report to be eligible for accommodations, even though there is no clear relationship between the information they contain and the specific accommodations approved. The likelihood that students receive accommodations further depends on personal factors, including self-advocacy. Skills-based supports, mental health and wellbeing supports, and inclusive pedagogical methods act as facilitators to equity. Persistent barriers associated with retroactive accommodations could be substantially reduced if more resources were directed to proactive efforts to increase academic accessibility of post-secondary education.