COVID-19 Health Emergency and Inclusive Higher Education: Experience of College Students with Disabilities

Abstract

The difficult conditions under which distance education took place during the COVID-19 pandemic in Chile may have jeopardized the implementation of inclusive practices in higher education. The objective of this research was to know the perception of higher education students with disabilities on inclusive higher education received during the COVID-19 pandemic in Chile. The method was a descriptive, non-experimental, cross-sectional, quantitative study. A survey was administered and the data were analyzed with descriptive statistics. The results highlight that students have presented a deteriorated mental health, that they have received good institutional support in inclusion, but not from their teachers. Synchronous teaching and evaluation methodologies are poorly evaluated and the experience with them has been deficient. It is concluded that according to the perception of the students, emergency distance education has put inclusion in a secondary position. While this is understandable, it is not recommended, as its effects can be very detrimental to students with disabilities. Despite the difficulties and heterogeneous support students have received, distance education has the potential to be considered inclusive and may result in a contribution to the challenge of inclusion in higher education.