Equal Access to an Education?: A Study on School Travel for Families Living with Childhood Disability

The project proposes to unpack the student transportation system through a comprehensive examination of legislative frameworks, in tandem with the lived school travel experiences of families living with childhood disability and school travel practitioners. The research aims are:(1) To understand how policy frameworks (e.g., international, federal, provincial, and municipal) shape school travel experiences for families living with childhood disability; (2) To demonstrate how disabled children and their families access and experience school travel; and (3) To identify tangible interventions to advance more equitable and inclusive school travel and education access for disabled students. To accomplish the latter, the following research question will serve as a guide: How does school travel materialize norms of able-bodiedness and able-mindedness (e.g., a preference for able-bodied, ‘neurotypical’ people)?

During their visit to Manchester, the intern will work closely with Dr. Cristina Temenos to analyze and interpret the data from the comprehensive content analysis of school travel policy, in addition to interviews with families/children living with disability and school travel practitioners. Dr. Temenos’ expertise in qualitative research methods, policy mobility and critical studies will be highly beneficial to this work.

Faculty Supervisor:

Timothy Ross

Student:

Partner:

University of Manchester

Discipline:

Sociology

Sector:

Education

University:

University of Toronto

Program: