Megan Lambert Dr.

Gwendolyn Weatherford HHPK 274 4 November 2013 Interview Assignment 1 As a portion of completing my undergraduate honors thesis, I was given the task of interviewing an adult with a disability who received special education services during middle/ high school. The process participants go through consists of 2 interviews; one mainly focusing on demographic information, and another focusing on the peer acceptance (or lack thereof) they perceived throughout their times receiving services. The initial interviews, though shorter, are meant to give the investigative team a clue as to how ones experience with peer acceptance went as they progressed through their middle and high school years. After each interview, I am charged with the task of transcribing each interview verbatim, and sending this transcript to my participant back for affirmation and analysis. Below are the questions I asked in one such interview with my third participant, as well as their answers: How would you define disability?: [Um, I guess physical disabilities, mental disabilities, learning disabilities [] is that what youre looking for? Or are you wanting more specific, like dyslexia, ADHD, or []? Okay, um, yeah, thats pretty much it.]

What does your disability status mean to you? [Um, Nothing.] Do you feel as if you were included in middle school? Why or why not?: [Um, yes and no [] I mean, you know I had to take the class that, um, everybody else didnt, but [] I think it was [] I mean, it was definitely different, it was definitely [] you knew that you were in a class that no [] not a very few people were in. I mean, there was only like, I think four students in my class, in my entire grade. So, there wasnt very many students. I think [] really,

honestly [] for me, it was more in the elementary school, cause I [] I was diagnosed in fifth grade. So, in the fifth grade, that was the big change. So, I go from being a gifted and talented student, to a [] remedial student, so [] and that carried on, because even though I [] in junior high I was allowed to take Algebra and, and Spanish, which were upper-level classes, but [] but you still had to go to Alpha Phonics. It wasnt really a good name, Alpha Phonics, so.] What do you believe best describes someone who is accepted by their peers?: [I dont know. I guess really accepted was, back then, probably just doing the same things, being involved in the same [] you know. Experiences, whatever those may be in school.]

What do you believe those without disabilities thought about those who were receiving special education or related services while you attended middle/high school? [I can definitely say those that werent receiving it, they had [] they were all in a different class. Most of my friends were in a different class at the time that I was taking that. So, they created memories and experiences together that I wasnt a part of]

Looking back on this interview, I realize that I have learned much about this student and how they perceived my questions. In my thesis, I am trying to provide a rich description of peer acceptance (popularity) for students with high-incidence disabilities (served under the learning disability, speech and language impairment, or other health impairment categories in IDEA 2004). While one may have already realized that students served with these services are not as likely to report positive feelings of peer acceptance throughout middle and high school, I found it interesting through the course of my research that students who have been served in lowincidence categories (such as Autism, Deafness, or Traumatic Brain Injury) have reported even less acceptance among their peers than students in high-incidence categories. At the same time,

however, most of the research I found on this subject was completed 14 years ago or more, and another objective in this study was to see what was going on exactly now that special education laws have changed so drastically. During this interview, I did not get the exact answers I was hoping for in each of my questions. As I asked my participant to define disability in their own words, I was merely given a list of disability diagnoses. As I asked her what her status meant to her, I got a short answer of nothing. These were not answers I had thought I would get; however, I do find the answers helpful still. If my participants disability status means nothing to her, this widens some of my preconceived notions about her. She does not see herself as one with a disability- rather, she may see herself through her other identifiers- wife, mother, daughter, sister, etc. This is important for anyone doing research to keep in mind as they move through; our participants are human, not simply a set of statistical information. I am looking forward to completing future interviews as I keep my perspectives open. In addition, I have learned to find my balance as a researcher- while I want to make my participants feel comfortable, at the same time I must remember to remain unbiased and not show my hypotheses through while conducting my interview.