A Systematic Literature Review on Disabled Queer and Trans College Student Scholarship

Since 2011, there has been a rise in scholars illustrating how disabled queer and trans (QT) students report their experiences on college and university campuses. Such an increase in literature addresses the concern of who has regularly been missing from discussions of disability, queerness, and transness when these investigations too often functioned in an isolated fashion. Given this growing scholarship, as well as the accompanying sociocultural shifts that have occurred affecting disabled QT people, we designed a study to understand the overarching trends existing in college student scholarship to help influence future research, practice, and policy. Implementing a systematic literature review approach, we surveyed 89 pieces of scholarship published between 2010 and 2024 that spoke to disabled QT students' lives in higher education. Findings revealed the following: (a) who disabled QT college students are and what they experience internally (e.g., identity conflicts and development), (b) what they face (e.g., physical and mental health concerns), (c) how specific contexts shape their realities (e.g., the influence of campus climates), and (d) how they persist and advocate for their communities (e.g., asset-based perspectives on agency). Following a description of these findings, we offer insights into the impact of this scholarship and what it means for work in higher education moving forward.