THE SOCIAL EXCLUSION OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES FROM TERTIARY EDUCATION – TARGETING BARRIERS DEPENDING ON THE TYPE OF DISABILITY BASED ON THE FINDINGS OF A QUALITATIVE STUDY

Abstract

In this paper, we primarily dealt with the low representation of persons with disabilities in the tertiary education system and targeted specific barriers that keep people with disabilities outside the tertiary education process. The mentioned problem was approached from the perspective of social exclusion and one of the main tasks of the conducted research was to gain insight into the types of barriers that affect persons with different types of disabilities depending on their student status (they did not enroll at a university, they discontinued their studies, they are currently studying, they have completed their studies). The results were gained by conducting in-depth interviews covering all the mentioned categories of persons with disabilities. The results of the research point to the existence of numerous obstacles that people with disabilities face in the process of acquiring tertiary education. It has turned out that the surveyed persons with disabilities face insurmountable obstacles in the form of architectural, institutional and social barriers, depending on the type of disability and their social environment.