Heard a podcast claiming 30% of college students disabled?
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Anonymous
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Don’t recall which podcast (I listen while I commute), but I tried looking it up to see if it’s true. Sort of shocked at what I found.
This is from reported numbers. Under the ADA, colleges are required to maintain an office of disabilities to register, record, and offer accommodations for disabled students (including those who had IEPs and or 504 plans. If they inform the university). But the really surprising part was this: “A Majority of College Students with Disabilities Do Not Inform School, New NCES Data Show“ https://nces.ed.gov/whatsnew/press_releases/4_26_2022.asp The podcast also claimed: international students who come to the U.S. to study, generally report near zero disabilities, which when factored in, raises the U.S. student percentage of disabled college students even higher. Did anyone else catch the same podcast or reporting? How do we change this? |
Anonymous
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The map did not show up, but it’s from Pew, at this link:
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/07/24/8-facts-about-americans-with-disabilities/ |
Anonymous
| What do you want to change, exactly? A lot of accommodations in college are related to allergies (to ensure housing and food safety for students on campus). |
Anonymous
| International students are probably less likely to report disabilities because of cultural differences, plus they aren’t familiar US with law and procedures, such as Americans With Disabilities Act and reasonable accommodations. |
Anonymous
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I think we have to be aware that what we diagnose/classify/accommodate/remedy now is a multitude of what we did 20 years ago.
So yes, now allergies, etc can be a disability on a college campus requiring food labeling etc. (Trump makes this mistake a lot) |
Anonymous
| 10% of kids have food allergies. And that % goes up every year. |
Anonymous
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Disabilities include a lot of things, from physical impairments, to mental health issues, allergies, learning disabilities, etc. 30% doesn’t seem out of the realm of possibility when accounting for the range of issues.
People with disabilities are in our communities and can often function pretty well when given the opportunities and accommodations to succeed. I have a child with a very specific math learning disability that only impacts certain areas and is otherwise a typical teenager (it’s an invisible under diagnosed disability most others wouldn’t even know about). |
Anonymous
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surprised it is only 30%.
asthma, seasonal allergies, food allergies combined would be about 30%. Many of these may not report but they could and schools encourage it. Add in anxiety, depression, adhd, dyslexia and related, physical and visual impairments.. -psyD who writes and reads college disability forms: all of the above diagnoses are used to determine a number of things from air conditioning/location/single-room housing to academic accommodations. |
Anonymous
Yes my kids allergies count for accommodations for living (dorm). It’s hovered by ADA. |
Anonymous
| My DS has a learning disability and he’s not planning on reporting it to his university. So, I can see unreported disabilities in there. |
Anonymous
What needs to change? Why do you think it needs to change? Do you think the number is too high or too low? Do you think kids with disabilities should not be in college? My 4.0, 1500+ dyslexic kid will be in that 30% because they get extra time and use of text to speech technology. Should that be disqualifying for attending college? Do you know that an estimated 5-10% of American students have dyslexia? An estimated 3-7% have ADHD? Plus a range of other learning differences, before you even get to physical disabilities, severe allergies, and on and on. I’m surprised only 30% have something that puts them in this category. |
Anonymous
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I was an international student, from Europe.
Even the progressive EU doesn't have nearly as much knowledge about special needs, learning disabilities, mental health diagnoses, etc, than the US. My husband and I both have ADHD, but neither of us were diagnosed in our home country, or had any accommodations. Today in Europe not much has changed. Whereas here, one of our kids was diagnosed in elementary school, given an IEP, and has had accommodations during his entire schooling, even in college! It blows my mind. The USA is by far the best country in the world in terms of services for any sort of disability. |
Anonymous
Students with disabilities often don’t inform the school during the application process because they are afraid of discrimination. My very capable DC has an invisible physical disability and isn’t disclosing it on their application. |
Anonymous
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Yes. The “disabilities” accommodation system is being fully gamed by UMC parents to squeeze out whatever additional advantage they can get for their kid. Meanwhile those of us with kids with actual disabilities see that they are still stigmatized because they aren’t the right type of disability. And here I am wanting my kid to take tests with no extended time (because I think he can, and I want him to learn to focus under pressure) but realizing that this puts him at too much of a disadvantage since all the kids with “ADHD”
get double time. But what really rankles is the parents who claim their kids are so disabled for certain purposes (ie when there is an advantage) but then either a) make arguments for excluding my kid or b) their kid becomes suddenly neurotypical when the label would be a detriment. |
Anonymous
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Not all accommodations = 'disabled"
30% with accommodations |