I Don't Suffer from Dyslexia; I Suffer from Other People: A Study on Students with Dyslexia and Stigma Experiences in Canadian Universities

Abstract

This thesis examines how students who identify as dyslexic experience academic accommodation systems in Canadian universities, and how these systems shape experiences of stigma, disclosure, identity, and belonging. Guided by an intersectional disability studies framework, the study analyzes eight semi-structured interviews with students across Canadian post-secondary institutions. Findings reveal that accommodation systems, while legally mandated and necessary, operate within and often reproduce ableist institutional norms that position neurotypical ways of learning and performing as the standard. Experiences of stigma and identity negotiation were produced through accommodation processes themselves, shaped by intersecting systems of ableism, racism, and gendered and classed expectations embedded within higher education. Access depended not only on accommodations themselves but on the institutional conditions, relationships, and ongoing labour required to activate them. This study contributes to Disability Studies and the sociology of education by centering diverse students' voices within Canada's fragmented disability policy landscape.