Being a Student with Special Needs in Higher Education during the Covid-19 Pandemic: Experiences and Ways to Cope with Difficulties

The transition of universities to the distance education system due to the Covid-19 pandemic has revealed the need to take measures to ensure the active participation of students in educational practices and to prevent their education from being adversely affected. If proper measures are not taken, students with special needs are among the groups with high probability of experiencing difficulties even in formal education. Therefore, in this study, the experiences of students with special needs as well as ways to cope with these difficulties during the Covid-19 pandemic were investigated. 56 students with special needs studying in various universities across Turkey participated in the cross-sectional study in which a survey questionnaire developed by the researchers was used. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data. The findings revealed that students mostly experienced difficulties regarding the devices used (41.07%) and internet access (33.93%). It was also determined that courses and exams were not adapted according to the students’ needs (39.29%), and students experienced difficulties in accessing the resources while preparing for the exams (57.14%). In addition, students also had difficulties in reaching the authorities from the university (28.57%) and reported that the announcements made by the disability services office were inadequate (25%). In dealing with the difficulties students either increased the limit of their internet or bought unlimited internet access packages (62.50%), and they also asked friends (69.64%) and student counselors (42.86%) for help. Although precautions were taken during the Covid-19 pandemic, students with special needs still experienced difficulties in accessing education at universities. For this reason, it is important to conduct comprehensive studies on the causes of the problems experienced to facilitate the educational accessibility for students with special needs and to find solutions for students with special needs to ensure that they actively continue their education.