External accomplice factors in university success: Narratives of graduates with invisible disabilities in Italy

Abstract

This article explores the external factors that have influenced the university success of graduates with invisible disabilities and the recommendations they make to universities to encourage students with disabilities to stay and successfully complete their degrees. This qualitative study involved interviews with 15 graduates from eight Italian universities. The results identified family, peers, faculty, and disability offices as the main factors that influenced their continuation with university studies. Recommendations included the need to provide more information to both students with disabilities (about the services that universities offer to support them) and faculty (about the students with disabilities they have in their classrooms and the necessary accommodations). These factors can be seen as levers for inclusion that benefit the whole university community.