Date
7-21-2026
Department
School of Education
Degree
Doctor of Philosophy in Higher Education Administration (PhD)
Chair
Heather Strafaccia
Keywords
disability, disclosure, accommodations, higher education, phenomenology, policy practices
Disciplines
Education
Recommended Citation
Bernick, Shannon M., "A Phenomenology Exploring the Perceived Influence of Students’ Disability Disclosure on Faculty's Practices" (2026). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects. 8700.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/8700
Abstract
The purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenological study was to understand the influence of student disability disclosure on policy practices developed by higher education administrators for faculty at higher education institutions in the United States. The theory guiding this study was Bandura’s social cognitive theory. The central research question was: What are the lived experiences of faculty integrating policy practices developed by higher education administrators with students who have chosen disability disclosure at higher education institutions in the United States? Participants in the study included 10 faculty members from diverse educational, professional, and personal backgrounds. The criteria for participant inclusion in the study was teaching experience at a 4-year institution in the United States and having taught a student who disclosed a disability. The setting was Title IV 4-year higher education institutions located in the United States. The study used interviews, journal prompts, and focus groups as the primary modes of data collection. The interview and focus group data were collected through virtual meetings, audio and video recordings, and transcriptions. The journal prompts were collected through electronic documents. All data was coded, analyzed to identify themes, and synthesized to develop an interpretation of the phenomenon. The results are detailed through three primary themes: student-centered collaboration, academic application, and institutional barriers, and seven subthemes: faculty-student communication, professional consultations, pragmatic empathy, compliance tension, purposeful accessibility, inaccessible structures, and divergent cultures. Three interpretations were derived from the results, suggestions for policy and practice were given, and implications for theory and empiricism were discussed.
