Amira Albagshi’s Three Minute Thesis
Doing things even we can’t — changing our attitudes toward persons with disabilities
A mixed methods research design was employed to explore the attitudes of 42 typically developing elementary grade students toward people with disabilities. Person-centered videos depicting successful and positive people with disabilities accomplishing life tasks were shown during one week of school assemblies in an elementary school. There was a small change in the participants’ scores on the CATCH survey from pre-intervention to post-intervention, but there were interesting findings from the focus group.
Amira Albagshi is a Ph.D. candidate in Special Education at WSU. Her research focuses on promoting social justice and equality by emphasizing disability education curriculum in K-12 classrooms. The purpose of this research is to understand the process of increasing awareness of disabilities, as well as acceptance among general education students. She holds a master’s degree in Special Education from the University of Northern Iowa, an Associate in Applied Science degree in Teacher preparation for Special Education (AAS), and a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Saudi Arabia. Amira’s background in sociology inspired her to research the special education field through different lenses by researching the social aspects of disability and working toward changing the negative stigma associated with disability that may hinder individuals from reaching their full potential in life.
