Representation of Students with Disability within Consciousness Semantic Space of Teachers, Healthy Postgraduate and Undergraduate Students

Abstract

We investigated and measured connections between the representation of students with disabilities in the semantic space with conscious teachers, undergraduates and to a lesser extent students depending on their context of the life experience with the respondents. In particular, on the experience of experiencing social exclusion and orientation to the semantic categories of the system of life meanings. In conclusion the process of educational inclusion of students with disabilities depends on the representation of students with disabilities in the semantic space within the consciousness of healthy minded teachers, undergraduates and students. The results revealed during the study suggest that the relative distance of the location of the majority of students with disabilities compared to the majority of healthy students according to the factors (axes) of strength and activity in the semantic space of the consciousness of healthy teachers, undergraduates and students might cause existing obstacles to the inclusive processes of people with disabilities in Russian higher education. On average, there is a proximity of a satisfactory attitude towards students with disabilities and healthy minded students, which is not enough to ensure the full inclusion of students with disabilities in the educational process. It is necessary to bring students with disabilities and healthy students closer in terms of factors (axes) of strength and activity in the semantic space within the consciousness of healthy teachers, undergraduates and students, since the conditions for the presence of tension and excitement in relation to the individual contribute to the process of self-realization through the solution of everyday life tasks. Such rapprochement is possible through the expansion of the experience of demanding and active interaction with students with disabilities in the educational process.