Ryan A. Mata, Ana Guadalupe Vielma, Desirée Lama, Eric Ge, Gayathri Ramesh, Soren Aldaco, Yiqiu Yan, & Dr. Stephanie W. Cawthon

Student learning is a key outcome of professional development and is facilitated by the implementation of accessible and inclusive learning environments. The Collaborative for Access and Equity (Collaborative) leveraged the lived experiences of disabled students and faculty partners to create actionable plans towards improving college course accessibility. The Collaborative model is driven within an enhanced professional learning community structure that identifies practices both conducive and detrimental to accessible and inclusive learning environments. The current study explores the Collaborative student experience through a thematic analysis of data collected from the disabled student coaches including meeting notes and focus groups. A combination of inductive and deductive interpretive approaches shows the benefits of participating in a collaborative learning community–including the exchange of knowledge between students and faculty, promotion of inclusive course design, and empowerment of disabled students.