The Academic Career Experiences of Academics with Visual Impairments in Music Departments: A Phenomenological Study

This study explores the academic career experiences of music academics with visual impairments in Turkish higher education, focusing on accessibility. Guided by a descriptive phenomenological orientation, the study used semi-structured telephone interviews with four academics recruited through purposive and snowball sampling. The data were analyzed using inductive thematic analysis. Three main themes were developed: entering and remaining in academia and considerations of leaving; accessibility in academic life; and accessibility in teaching and institutional processes. Participants associated academic careers with opportunities to teach, sustain artistic practice, and contribute to society. Some accounts revealed tensions between these professional priorities and institutional expectations of success. Converting resources into accessible formats, checking visual formatting, and navigating digital systems required additional time, preparation, and assistance, depending on the task and access conditions. Experiences specific to music involved the use of Braille notation, access to polyphonic scores, and preparation for teaching visually presented notation. Participants also linked reader support and time allowances in examinations to their opportunities to demonstrate knowledge. Opportunities to work independently varied across tasks and access conditions. Collegial support helped participants address some difficulties but did not replace institutional accessibility provision. During interpretation, the themes were connected to expectations of the “ideal academic” and the concept of academic ableism. By showing how access to musical materials and preparation for teaching intersect with broader academic requirements, the study contributes a music-specific perspective to discussions of disability in academia. The findings suggest that accessibility provision should address music teaching materials, scholarly work, and institutional assessment procedures together.