Quality of life of higher education students with disabilities at Shaqra University.
Disabled Saudi university students say broken campus systems, not lack of tech, crush their quality of life.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Madhesh (2023) talked with 11 disabled students and 2 staff at Shaqra University in Saudi Arabia. The team asked open questions about daily life, classes, and campus support.
They used simple interviews to learn how students felt about their quality of life.
What they found
Students said their quality of life was very low. The main reasons were broken systems: hard-to-get services, no ramps or captions, and little help from staff.
Even small fixes, like a note-taker or a working elevator, were missing.
How this fits with other research
Agiovlasitis et al. (2025) asked staff at the same Saudi universities what they saw. Staff also blamed scarce interpreters and few Deaf Role Models. The two studies match: both show the system, not the student, is the problem.
Jackson et al. (2025) ran a survey and found plenty of assistive tech on campus. Yet Madhesh (2023) still heard low quality of life. The gap shows tech alone is useless if policies and attitudes stay stuck.
Gonzalo et al. (2024) reviewed 21 papers and saw the same story worldwide: universities talk about inclusion but keep special, separate services. Abdullah’s data now add Saudi voices to that global pattern.
Why it matters
If you consult to college disability offices, use these findings to push for simple, systemic fixes before buying more gadgets. Ask for one-page action plans that add captions, fix elevators, and fund interpreters. Track student-reported quality of life each term to show when real inclusion starts.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Saudi Arabia, through its Vision 2030, seeks to enhance the Quality of Life (QoL) of all individuals who live there. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the of QoL of students with disabilities in a Saudi university (Shaqra University) as a case study. Although this study was conducted in one university, many students with disabilities around the world are facing the same systematic practices in many universities (Carballo et al., 2021; Khayatzadeh-Mahani et al., 2020). Therefore, this study used qualitative research by interviewing all students with disabilities who are registered at the university for the academic year 2022-2023. In addition to these 11 students with disabilities, 2 senior university administrators who have a direct relationship with the services provided to these students were also interviewed. The overall outcomes confirm that the QoL for these students is very low due to multiple factors that were discussed in detail.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2023 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2023.104520