Accessible summary• In this article, the formative childhood and adolescent experiences of two young adults with learning disabilities, leading to their transitions from high school to university, are chronicled. • Their university studies, as auditing students, 1 and the Campus Life program 2 through which their studies were supported, also are described. • Finally, their recommendations to other young people with learning disabilities who aspire to higher education are detailed. Benefits to people with Learning Disabilities: It is always important to hear, and help others hear, the voices, thoughts and perspectives of people with learning disabilities, especially with respect to what they think contributes to a good life. This is the story of two young adults with learning disabilities, Heidi and Philip, studying at an advanced level, deciding on real careers and, in the process, helping the university to redefine its role in the community. SummaryBuilding a meaningful and valued life for individuals with learning disabilities requires the sustained, diligent and coordinated efforts of family members, supporters, educators and the individuals themselves. In this article, the formative childhood and adolescent experiences of two young adults with learning disabilities, leading to their transitions from high school to university, are chronicled. As co-authors with three of their university supporters, they describe their formative experiences in elementary and secondary school and the transition years that preceded university entry. Their university studies, as auditing students, and the Campus Life program, through which their studies were supported, also are described. Finally, their recommendations to other young people with learning disabilities who aspire to higher education are detailed.1 Students apply to the University of Manitoba as auditing students. The consent of their instructors is required for them to audit courses. Auditing students pay half of the regular tuition. As students in the Campus Life program, students are expected to submit assignments, participate in classroom activities and discussions, and receive feedback. 2 We use the Canadian spelling for words such as 'program', rather than the British spelling (i.e., 'programme') of such words throughout the article.

An increasing number of children and youth have mental health disorders. To address this issue, federal and provincial mental health policymakers in Canada have recommended: (a) improving the coordination of services, and (b) increasing the role that schools play in providing supports. One way to operationalize these recommendations is to implement the wraparound approach in the context of a full-service community school. This qualitative, multiple-case study of three community schools in Manitoba, Canada, explores the experiences of stakeholders in community schools as they relate to support for children and youth with mental health disorders and their families. The findings indicate that community schools engage in practices that align with the 10 guiding principles of wraparound. Given the broad-based partnerships in community schools and their focus on collaborative action, they hold promise as sites with the potential to lead the implementation of the wraparound approach.

In the province of Manitoba, Canada, there is a gap between the rhetoric of inclusive education and its practical implementation. In the absence of inclusive educational policies and guidelines, deficit-based approaches such as categorical labels for students who are deemed to have a severe emotional and behavioural disorder, segregated classrooms, and self-contained programs are prevalent and change is needed. This paper provides a critical perspective on how the paradigm of special education contributes to the social construction of disability; how, for Indigenous students, it too often positions behavioural difference as disability; and further, why this practice is systemically discriminatory. In our examination, we seek to expose the exclusion (Slee & Allen, 2001) that exists in nominally inclusive schools as a way to promote social change and redirect education toward truly inclusive practices. To that end, we suggest the following strategies that may reduce educational inequity for Indigenous students: (a) developing clearly articulated inclusive educational policies along with indicators of inclusivity; (b) reporting the number of Indigenous students who are identified as emotionally and behaviourally disordered, and segregated in self-contained settings; (c) establishing needs-based models of support at all levels (e.g., province, division, and school); (d) creating new narratives of assessment and pedagogy; and (e) reconceptualizing teachers’ training. We hope that by critically examining the structures and processes of special education that, in fact, disable Indigenous students from educational success, inclusion might encompass more than a provincial philosophy and include transformative educational change.

Background For almost two decades, students with intellectual, developmental and multiple disabilities have attended undergraduate classes at the University of Manitoba, in Winnipeg, Canada as part‐time auditing students. They are supported by the Campus Life program. Campus Life employs graduate and undergraduate university students as academic tutors and social role models because they too are immersed in university life. Methods We chose collaborative autoethnography as a research method because we believe in researching and writing with individuals with disabilities, rather than about them. Three student tutor dyads elected to participate in this study. In the context of the pandemic and the switch from on‐campus in‐person learning to off‐campus online learning, we were interested in learning about the changes, challenges or unanticipated benefits they experienced. Each dyad engaged in tutor‐led conversations, guided by open‐ended questions, and wrote their story. Findings The stories from the three dyads were received and analysed. We found three emergent themes. The first was centred on worries about the health risks of COVID‐19, the difficulties they experienced in adapting to online learning and their development of better skills in listening and communicating. The second theme was about the dramatic reduction in their opportunities for social engagement. With respect to the third emergent theme, they recounted some advantages of online learning, noting that it was more accessible, more convenient and safer during a pandemic. Conclusion For the study participants the shift to online classes and tutoring sessions was surprisingly successful. They became more independent and improved their online communication, time‐management and organisational skills. Social engagement was sorely missed, especially studying and socializing with classmates at university and participating in extracurricular activities. The students also noted some advantages to online learning such as accessibility, convenience, feeling comfortable at home, avoiding transportation to the university and learning to use new tech tools. The tutors began sharing and learning from each other. This was facilitated by online tutoring roundtables. Our first insight from this study is the realisation that we now have a new medium for tutoring Campus Life students. A second is the need to better understand student social engagement in the online world.