| Summary: | <p> Current disability identity theories measure disability experience in dichotomous ways: disabled and non-disabled. To expand this as dynamic, not dualistic, my study replicated Darling and Heckert's empirical study, specifically assessing college students with disabilities. I used their tool, the Questionnaire on Disability Identity and Opportunity (QDIO), to examine Disability Orientation (DO), a multifaceted concept that measures disability experience. </p><p> An exploratory factor analysis on a sample of 369 respondents revealed only two of the four Disability Factors (DF) posited by Darling and Heckert. These two DFs were found to have a significant inverse relationship such that as feelings of Exclusion/Dissatisfaction with life (ED) increased, Disability Pride (DP) decreased. An examination of DP and ED’s effects on impairment type, Visibility of Disability (VoD), and Onset Age of Disability (OAoD) also found no significant findings. Implications are discussed about improving research and understanding of the experiences of people with disabilities </p><p>
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