The experiences of disabled and neurodiverse Ph.D. students in LIS programs during the COVID-19 pandemic: Weathering the storm1

Abstract

Amid the growing body of research on disability and neurodiversity, disabled and neurodiverse Ph.D. students are not often in the focus, despite the fact that Ph.D. students occupy a unique position of a learner-scholar-teacher in academia. A particular gap is felt in the field of Library & Information Science (LIS). This study stands to address this gap by focusing on the experiences of disabled and neurodiverse Ph.D. students in American and Canadian LIS Programs during the COVID-19 pandemic and in its immediate aftermath. Guided by the Holistic Empowering Methodological Approach (HEMA) that puts participants in the driver’s seat and allows them to determine the nature and extent of participation, the study spotlights participants’ experiences during the remote learning and returning to campus phases of the lingering public health crisis. The findings show that while there was a fair balance of positive and negative experiences during the earlier stage of the pandemic, the stage of returning to campus was associated with additional challenges and an overwhelming number of negative experiences. The article addresses personal, program-related, and environmental factors in both positive and negative experiences, using the findings as a basis for conclusions and recommendations to Ph.D. program administrators and faculty.