Exploring the lived experiences of students with vision impairments as they transition to mainstream universities in China: A bioecological perspectiv

Following domestic and international pressure, the door to mainstream universities in China was formally opened to students with vision impairment (VI) in 2015 with 'the regulation of students with disabilities sitting the National College Entrance Examination (NCEE)'. This policy listed 12 reasonable adjustments including provision of braille/ large printed test papers. Nevertheless, evidence suggests students and all stakeholders were ill-prepared for this transition from special to inclusive education approaches. This difficulty may be attributed to the fragmented pre-university educational provision and problematic implementation of inclusion in universities. For example, previous research (Ma & Ni, 2020; Man, 2021; Wang & Deng, 2021) has identified concerns in relation to:
(1) prior educational experience (e.g. leaving schools with lower prior academic attainment and inadequate requisite skills such as orientation and mobility, self-advocacy, and assistive technology);
(2) resources in universities (e.g. having to rely on sighted peers because of absence of disability offices in universities);
(3) VI students being elevated as inspirational role models that heightens social stigma/misunderstanding but obscures universities' responsibilities.
Driven by my own lived transition experience in China as registered blind student, this project will explore the holistic experience of transition to mainstream universities in China for students with VI using the bioecological model of inclusive higher education as a theoretical framework. The model is based on Bronfenbrenner's bioecological model of human development (Bronfenbrenner, 2005), which was refined and applied by Hewett et al. (2017) in their longitudinal project of post-school transitions for students with VI in the UK. By applying this model in the context of China, my project promises to reflect not only the complexity and inclusivity of the current interrelated support systems (at micro to macrosystem levels) in that country, but also the role of students developing personal agency over time (chronosystem), as well as how this influences the students' lived transition experience (Hewett et al., 2020).
A heuristic case study will be employed which allows me not only to understand the interaction amongst factors in the complicated ecosystem, but also integrates my personal experiences as a participant with data from other participants. Data collection will be centered on students with VI in China who have experienced/ are experiencing the first year in university, but will also include their parents and faculties, workers with VI in disabled people's organisations who held the preparative summer camp, and policies at different levels. Interviews, observations and document collection will be undertaken simultaneously, establishing a solid foundation of analysis for my study (Grbich, 2012).
Documenting the lived experience of students with disabilities in higher education should be central to inform any changes in research, policy and practice (Fuller et al., 2004). Yet no research has concerned the lived experience and transition to universities for students with disabilities/VI in China. Moreover, the insider perspective of my lived transition experience is also methodologically rare but important in disability research. Thus, my project aims to fill an important research gap, expanding the applied model in a different context, gaining depth and methodological development from the insider perspective in research. The wider aim is to inform changes in national inclusion policies to benefit not only students with VI but a wider group of students with disabilities by improving the transition system in practice.