“You haven’t gone out and done anything”: Exploring Disabled Veterans Experiences in Higher Education

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/0095327X211063920
• Published date: 01 April 2023
• Date: 01 April 2023
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0095327X211063920

Armed Forces & Society

2023, Vol. 49(2) 507 –530

© The Author(s) 2021

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DOI: 10.1177/0095327X211063920

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Article

1134644AFSXXX10.1177/0095327X211063920Armed Forces & SocietyCassidy and Albanesi

research-article2021

“You haven’t gone out and

done anything”: Exploring

Disabled Veterans

Experiences in Higher

Education

Steven P. Cassidy

1

and Heather Albanesi

2

Abstract

Through the analysis of 24 in-depth, semi-structured interviews, this study explored

the process through which disability affects veterans’experiences in the university

classroom and their social relations with traditional students. Using inductive-

exploratory qualitative methods, this study builds upon the sociological understand-

ing of veterans’experiences in higher education. Findings from this study tentatively

suggest that while disability related fear/hypervigilance, stigma, and anxiety signif‌icantly

impact veterans’comfort levels when engaging with traditional students, veterans also

externalize the impact of their disability as a social artifact of their military service.

More research is needed to determine if the interaction of disability and artifacts of

service decreases veterans’ability to integrate well with traditional students in

classroom settings.

Keywords

veterans, sociology, disability, higher education, military culture

1

Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA

2

University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, CO, USA

Corresponding Author:

Steven P. Cassidy, Department of Sociology, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164, USA.

Email: steven.cassidy@wsu.edu

508 Armed Forces & Society 49(2)

Introduction

I don’t really know how to talk to a lot of people on campus and I think that’sa

“me”problem. Just because I was in [the military] when I should’ve been

learning those social interactions and all that stuff and I learned a different set of

social interaction rules that don’t apply while here. Like joking about murdering

someone is not good here, so [laughs], which is f‌ine in [the military]. So, I’d

rather just not say anything. So, I don’t want to offend anyone, so I f‌ind myself not

talking.

—Mariah, three-year Army veteran with traumatic brain injury

When Mariah was interviewed for this study, she had been out of the military

13 months. At the time of the interview, she was pursuing a dual bachelor’s degree in

criminology and psychology. Before attending university,Mariah experi enced repeated

head trauma in the Army. As she put it: “I just fell out of a lot of planes and now I don’t

know which [head injury] is the worst.”Mariah reported diff‌iculty regulating emotions

such as anger and frustration, in addition to problems with concentration and memory,

to the point where she would “forget entire conversations.”Mariah’s story, while

concerning, is not unique. Like many disabled veterans, she continues to deal with the

effects of a service-connected disability post-military separation.

The troubles related to her traumatic brain injury (TBI) were far from the only

tribulation Mariah faced in higher education. As illustrated in the opening quote,

Mariah also found it diff‌icult to engage and connect with traditional students. When it

came to discussing her experiences in the university classroom, Mariah was equally—if

not more—concerned with diff‌iculties related to social relations with traditional stu-

dents as she was with the impact of her TBI.

Stories such as those of Mariah and the other veterans introduced in this study shed

light on the struggles of disabled veterans in higher education. While a growing body of

research seeks to understand the experiences of veterans in higher education, little is

known about the classroom as a specif‌ic site of experience in higher education for

disabled veterans. Furthermore, many studies that address veterans’diff‌iculties in

higher education acknowledge disability without bringing it to the forefront of the

discussion (for a few examples see: Griff‌in & Gilbert, 2015;Hammond, 2016;Jones,

2017)—resulting in a need for more research (Barry et al., 2014;Vaccaro, 2015).

Through the analysis of 24 in-depth, semi-structured interviews, this paper explores

the role of disability in shaping the classroom experiences of veterans attending a four-

year university. Using an inductive-exploratory approach, this study builds upon the

sociological understanding of veterans’experiences in higher education by exploring

the effects of student veterans’disabilities on their classroom experiences and the

impact of those disabilities on their social relations with other students. Our research

describes potential internal and external barriers to disabled veterans’success in higher

education and centers disability in the creation and maintenance of these barriers. Based

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