Self perception, impairment, and disability. The shift towards disablement as a social problem and away from impairment

The aims of the proposed research are: 1) to develop a fuller understanding of ADHD which reaches beyond the relative epistemological incongruencies between the constructivist approaches of SMD and current positivist ADHD research and; 2) to provide experiential knowledge of ADHD within higher education to better understand the effect of educational-inclusion policies on ADHDers. This PhD will utilise a social relational model and Critical Realist approach to expand beyond previous positions to give voice to the experience of those diagnosed with ADHD.
My research questions will investigate:

What does 'impairment' and 'disability' mean within the context of ADHD, and how do ADHDers experience the relationship between both concepts?

What relations and configurations are common among ADHDers, and which act to diversify experiences?

What is the relationship between the specific nature of an ADHD diagnosis and an individual's educational experiences?

What role does ADHD play in the development of self-perception as one progresses through HE?

What impact has educational-inclusionary policy had upon ADHDers throughout HE and their wider life histories?

This PhD will contribute to the emancipatory ideology of disability research through its address of the exclusion of adults from ADHD research and from discussions of socio-structural experiences of disability. The sociological understanding generated will have policy and practice applications for better support measures offered by HE institutions and facilitating the inclusion of individuals with otherwise hidden disabilities.

The decision to adopt a CR approach has been made because its understanding of reality as a multi-layered system is compatible with social relational models of disability, bridging the gap between medical and social models. The literature on ADHD subtype concerning gender, academic attainment and age of diagnosis indicates impairment type relates directly to micro-experiences of disabling barriers. Thus, in addition to providing new insight into HE institutions' role in generating and perpetuating structural ableism, the research aims to demonstrate the value of recontextualising our understanding of the neurological reality of ADHD and the resultant impairment effects in relation to structural barriers. This will also show that CR has much to offer emancipatory research. Rather than conceding objectivity to the perspective of 'an able-bodied knower' (Stone & Priestley, 1996; Fontes et al., 2014), CRs commitment to ontological realism and epistemological relativism transforms oppressive dogma into tools that give weight and 'reality' to the expertise and 'lived subjectivities' of ADHDers.

Method and analysis:
This project will use a sequential, explanatory, mixed-method approach to develop a better understanding of stratified experiences of disablement (i.e. micro, meso and macro experiences) and the various causal forces that may activate them.

The first data collection phase will consist of a preliminary closed questionnaire using a modified version of the College Self-Efficacy Index [CSEI] to assess participants' academic self-efficacy. This has been selected for broader consideration of college experiences (e.g. considering both social and academic factors). The quantitative data will be analysed using the social-relational model to generate proto-theories on identified patterns of experiences.

In the second phase, semi-structured interviews [SSI] will be employed; retroductive analysis shall qualify and generate explanatory insight into the relationships observed in the initial quantitative phase (Danermark et al., 2019). SSIs will be used due to their efficacy in generating synthesisable narratives of individual experiences to give knowledge of an external reality. Due to the subject nature, an interview guide will be developed and composed of broader topic areas related to the research's aims to retain focus.