Mad and Disabled Realities Within Academic Integrity at the University Level of Education

Researched in the study was the occupation of academic integrity/the handling of plagiarism at the university level of education related to students of the Mad and/or learning disability communities. My research questions were: a) “how have Mad students and/or students with learning disabilities experienced the handling of plagiarism?” and b) “how attentive are the academic integrity documents at Ryerson University to students of the Mad and/or learning disability communities”. A semi-structured interview collected participant data, while review of three documents collected textual data. A thematic analysis of this data revealed the negative experience of the handling of plagiarism and the unsatisfactory attentiveness of academic integrity at the university level, where ableism and disablism are implicated. Discovered amongst the data was the inacceptable and potentially harmful approaches at the university level for students of the Mad and/or learning disability communities, and the need for these to be remedied.