Disclosure dilemmas: Experiences of university graduates with invisible disabilities
Students with invisible disabilities often face challenges in deciding whether to disclose their condition in university settings. This article explores the disclosure process of invisible disabilities in Italian and Spanish university graduates, using a phenomenological approach with 29 participant...
| Autores: | , |
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| Tipo de recurso: | artículo |
| Estado: | Versión publicada |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2025 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | Universidad de Sevilla (US) |
| Repositorio: | idUS. Depósito de Investigación de la Universidad de Sevilla |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:idus.us.es:11441/175096 |
| Acceso en línea: | https://hdl.handle.net/11441/175096 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijer.2025.102694 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | Invisible disabilities Higher education Disability disclosure Phenomenological study |
| Sumario: | Students with invisible disabilities often face challenges in deciding whether to disclose their condition in university settings. This article explores the disclosure process of invisible disabilities in Italian and Spanish university graduates, using a phenomenological approach with 29 participants. Its purpose is to analyse to whom, when, what, how, and why these graduates decide toshare their disability in the university context. The data obtained through semi-structured interviews co-constructed with the participants were analysed with an inductive category system. The results indicate that all graduates disclosed their disability at some point to university community members, including administrative staff, faculty, or peers, driven by diverse motivations such as accessing support services, facing moments of crisis, or building trust within relationships. This disclosure process is subjective, dynamic, and ongoing, shaped as much by fear of stigma as by individual needs and the university’s social context. It is concluded that a safe and welcoming environment at university is essential, where students feel free to disclose their disability and seek support if they wish to do so |
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