Students with mental health (dis)Abilities’ storied experiences within distance education

Abstract Distance education gives a diverse group of social work students access to further education. Research addressing the overall experiences of Canadian distance education social work students is limited, and even more so for distance education social work students with mental health (dis)Abilities. By means of a qualitative research project using narrative inquiry, I listened to the stories of social work students with mental health (dis)Abilities studying online as they each shared points of access and barriers within their distance education. Six study participants from two Canadian universities narrated multifaceted storied experiences of adapting, coping, and navigating through their distance courses and programs, highlighting attitudinal and institutional changes that would be supportive of their learning. Using narrative auto-ethnography, I also integrated my own experiences into the research. Through participants’ storied experiences, I conceptualized recommendations for social work distance education programs.