  Since transition to higher education emerged as a research topic in the early
1970s, scholarly inquiry has focused on students without impairments and, what
is more, little attention has been paid to the role of digital technologies.
This article seeks to address this knowledge gap by looking at the university
experiences of a group of first-year students with vision impairments from New
Zealand, and the way they use digital tools, such as social media and mobile
devices, to manage their transition-related challenges. The article summarises
the findings from a longitudinal qualitative project which was methodologically
informed by action research (AR). The article explores and discusses scholarly
inquiry of transition to university and introduces a conceptual framework which
includes five overlapping stages, the transition issues faced by the students
and the roles played by digital technologies. The article updates and expands
the theoretical understanding of transition to higher education and provides
empirical evidence for practitioners to support the needs, inclusion, and
participation of young people with disabilities in the tertiary setting.
