Incivility in Higher Education: Challenges of Inclusion for Neurodiverse Students with Traumatic Brain Injury in Ireland

Teresa Shiels, Neil Kenny, Roy Shiels and Patricia Mannix-McNamara
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Teresa Shiels: School of Education, University of Limerick, V94 H58H Limerick, Ireland
Neil Kenny: School of Inclusive and Special Education, Dublin City University, 9 Dublin, Ireland
Roy Shiels: Student Affairs, University of Limerick, V94 H58H Limerick, Ireland
Patricia Mannix-McNamara: School of Education, University of Limerick, V94 H58H Limerick, Ireland

Societies, 2021, vol. 11, issue 2, 1-14

Abstract: This paper explores the lived experience of incivility for neurodiverse students with traumatic brain injury (TBI) in Ireland. The higher education (HE) environment can be challenging for students with TBI. Incivility is common in higher education, and students with disabilities such as TBI are often marginalized within academia, making them more vulnerable to incivility. For this paper, data are drawn from the first author’s autoethnographic study, and is supplemented with semi-structured interviews from a sample of HE seven students also with TBI. Results revealed that participants’ experiences of incivility were common and were linked to the organizational culture of higher education. Our experiences point to a need for better responsiveness when interactions are frequently uncivil, despite there being policies that recognize diversity and equality. This is the first paper of its kind to explore this particular experience in Ireland and the purpose of this paper is to raise awareness of the challenges of neurodiverse students and how they are exacerbated by organizational and interpersonal incivility.

Keywords: incivility; students with traumatic brain injury; higher education; power (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A13 A14 P P0 P1 P2 P3 P4 P5 Z1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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