Journeys of Resilience: American Indian Students with Disabilities Overcoming Barriers to Pursue Higher Education

Abstract

In this study I investigated the journeys of five American Indian students with disabilities (AISD) pursuing higher education in the Southwest region of the United States. Specifically, the AISD’s journeys were examined to identify: (1) student perceptions and social and institutional conditions that served as barriers to pursue higher education; and (2) what conditions in the experiences of AISD facilitated overcoming barriers to pursue higher education. This qualitative study used critical ethnography and grounded theory methods to collect AISD stories that spanned their childhoods, transitions to college, and current placement in college. Navhongvita (Joseph & Windchief, 2015) was the conceptual model implemented to organize the data and Tribal Critical Race Theory (TribalCrit) (Brayboy, 2005) and Dis/ability Critical Race Theory (DisCrit) (Annamma, Connor, & Ferri, 2016) were the theoretical lens used to interpret findings. The role of home community and educational institutions were found to contribute to the barriers encountered and to the conditions informing resilience among the AISD. Additionally, historical implications with regards to colonization and social constructs of disability contributed to barriers experienced by AISD in their journeys to pursue higher education. The development and the practice of resilience for AISD was identified to be both an outcome and a process (Morales, 2008a) that was informed by individual life stories and shared experiences. Keywords: American Indian, higher education, resilience, disability, community, intersectionality.