Anonymous
10/31/2025 09:46
Subject: Heard a podcast claiming 30% of college students disabled?
I work in the ADA office at a big flagship U (i.e., I work with staff/faculty on employment-related accommodations) and also work closely with the Disability Office (especially where people have dual roles, such as grad student and TA/research assistant). Yes, there are people who abuse the process, but most of the anecdotes on here are like welfare queen anecdotes of the 1980s - they do not reflect reality (for the most part) but just serve to stir up outrage. Without reviewing someone's entire school file and medical information, you really have no idea of someone is trying to advantage of the system.
Anonymous
10/31/2025 09:43
Subject: Heard a podcast claiming 30% of college students disabled?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:As the parent of a child with a LD, I appreciate those who are saying those same accommodations don’t exist in the workplace, but most kids know not to seek out jobs that won’t work with their learning disability. For example, my kid has a typing accommodation. She would not seek out a job that required lots of hand writing, but she does need an accommodation in college because not all professors otherwise allow computers in the classroom.
She also gets a quiet testing location. And she would never seek out a job like working on a loud trading floor.
Intelligent kids know what does and does not work for them. You don’t have to hinder their education for all jobs just because they aren’t well suited to a few jobs.
The problem is that accommodation like a “quiet testing environment” means kids don’t learn to tolerate distractions.
It would seem to me that if, clinically, there was evidence that exposure decreased ADHD that would quickly become the preferred therapeutic intervention. The fact that I’ve never heard any medical or educational professional suggest this as a pathway to prioritize, makes me think it might not be that easy.
Anonymous
10/31/2025 09:28
Subject: Heard a podcast claiming 30% of college students disabled?
Anonymous wrote:As the parent of a child with a LD, I appreciate those who are saying those same accommodations don’t exist in the workplace, but most kids know not to seek out jobs that won’t work with their learning disability. For example, my kid has a typing accommodation. She would not seek out a job that required lots of hand writing, but she does need an accommodation in college because not all professors otherwise allow computers in the classroom.
She also gets a quiet testing location. And she would never seek out a job like working on a loud trading floor.
Intelligent kids know what does and does not work for them. You don’t have to hinder their education for all jobs just because they aren’t well suited to a few jobs.
The problem is that accommodation like a “quiet testing environment” means kids don’t learn to tolerate distractions.
Anonymous
10/31/2025 09:24
Subject: Heard a podcast claiming 30% of college students disabled?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:What's shocking is that these types of accommodations aren't offered in jobs after college.
Thank god we don’t
Um, employers are required to provide reasonable accommodations to workers with disabilities. Time to check in with HR!
Employers are definitely not required to provide double or unlimited time to complete work tasks.
Anonymous
10/31/2025 09:20
Subject: Heard a podcast claiming 30% of college students disabled?
As the parent of a child with a LD, I appreciate those who are saying those same accommodations don’t exist in the workplace, but most kids know not to seek out jobs that won’t work with their learning disability. For example, my kid has a typing accommodation. She would not seek out a job that required lots of hand writing, but she does need an accommodation in college because not all professors otherwise allow computers in the classroom.
She also gets a quiet testing location. And she would never seek out a job like working on a loud trading floor.
Intelligent kids know what does and does not work for them. You don’t have to hinder their education for all jobs just because they aren’t well suited to a few jobs.
She also gets a quiet testing location. And she would never seek out a job like working on a loud trading floor.
Intelligent kids know what does and does not work for them. You don’t have to hinder their education for all jobs just because they aren’t well suited to a few jobs.
Anonymous
10/31/2025 09:12
Subject: Heard a podcast claiming 30% of college students disabled?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:+++ that is a bold and correct decisionAnonymous wrote:Debated getting DD checked for slow processing speed at beginning of MS because she definitely has that. But decided against it because even with accomodations in school, jobs won't extend that. So best to learn how to work with the brain you have in the system we have and push the brain to the max capacity. Much easier to do that when young and brain is most plastic and also when young because there is the support and safety net of parents.
I thought to have extra time accommodations when in school and then not have it suddenly as an adult will be a rude awakening. This way DD will force her brain to adapt a bit and also she will find a career path that suits her.
In my field of work, slow processing wouldn't work and their can be no accommodations. I work at top speed everyday with massive amounts of information, and critically make judgements and decisions that affect other people's wellbeing. DD won't end up in my job but that's ok. She will find her way.
She's near the end of MS now, and the processing speed has gotten better in my assessment, and same with her memory and ability to connect information. She's not the brightest or the fastest by any means, but the improvement as been marked!
The brain can adapt and rise to the occassion more than many parents are allowing for their kids. For me it is more important to expand her brain's abilities and struggle right now while I can support her than it is for me for her to get straight As. I decided accommodations may help her grades now but would not be in her best interest in the long run. Forcing her brain to make and strengthen these neuronal connections will serve her much better for her life.
I totally agree too. And it doesn’t feel politically correct to say it. The brain is a muscle and it’s better for kids to work it as hard as they can in school.
My parents felt the same way about executive functioning skills. They were basically drill sergeants. My siblings and I know how to keep a calendar, a clean house, and get our school work done. I know for a fact that if I had laid back parents I would have floundered.
I get the value in what you and PP are saying. The brain is malleable and one can improve upon what doesn’t come naturally. But it’s more complex than this. The brain does a lot of weird things to protect itself from hurt. One of these things is to give up on tasks that feel insurmountable, and that’s what many adhd/LD people have done through time. Sometimes giving up happens in big ways (our prisons are filled with stories of unaddressed learning needs), sometimes it happens in quieter ways — people who live functional lives but prematurely give up on their full potential.
Accommodations can be a part of helping people realize that they can learn and get better at things. If you have slow processing speed and always do poorly on timed tests, you never know why you’re failing — it’s easy to assume it’s because you simply aren’t capable of learning the material. (And if you simply aren’t capable, why try?). If a kid learns that they *can* learn the material, they just (a) need to practice speed, and (b) may thrive in careers that emphasize long-form deep work, that seems more helpful than harmful.
Anyway, I note that PP’s kid is still in middle school. Still a lot ahead for her DD. I admire that she’s doing her best to help her kid. Her understanding of the “best help” might change with time. Or it might not. Either way, I wish her and her kid good luck.
Anonymous
10/31/2025 09:05
Subject: Heard a podcast claiming 30% of college students disabled?
Anonymous wrote:Top 25 schools according to that site, public schools look more reasonable:
3% or less Duke
4.83% UCLA
7.50% MIT
10.43% Rice
11.20% Emory
11.73% Caltech
12.00% Georgetown, Michigan
12.83% WashU
13.34% Berkeley
13.57% Carnegie Mellon
14.00% Johns Hopkins, Northwestern, Notre Dame
14.26% Columbia
15.00% Vanderbilt
15.03% Penn
15.54% Princeton
15.80% Dartmouth
19.80% Yale
21.00% Chicago, Harvard
21.58% Cornell
22.00% Brown
38.17% Stanford
I can't follow this thread anymore (I clearly need a diagnosis). are these numbers the % of kids with a claimed disability etc?
Anonymous
10/31/2025 08:47
Subject: Heard a podcast claiming 30% of college students disabled?
Anonymous wrote:Debated getting DD checked for slow processing speed at beginning of MS because she definitely has that. But decided against it because even with accomodations in school, jobs won't extend that. So best to learn how to work with the brain you have in the system we have and push the brain to the max capacity. Much easier to do that when young and brain is most plastic and also when young because there is the support and safety net of parents.
I thought to have extra time accommodations when in school and then not have it suddenly as an adult will be a rude awakening. This way DD will force her brain to adapt a bit and also she will find a career path that suits her.
In my field of work, slow processing wouldn't work and their can be no accommodations. I work at top speed everyday with massive amounts of information, and critically make judgements and decisions that affect other people's wellbeing. DD won't end up in my job but that's ok. She will find her way.
She's near the end of MS now, and the processing speed has gotten better in my assessment, and same with her memory and ability to connect information. She's not the brightest or the fastest by any means, but the improvement as been marked!
The brain can adapt and rise to the occassion more than many parents are allowing for their kids. For me it is more important to expand her brain's abilities and struggle right now while I can support her than it is for me for her to get straight As. I decided accommodations may help her grades now but would not be in her best interest in the long run. Forcing her brain to make and strengthen these neuronal connections will serve her much better for her life.
This is incredibly stupid. Forefeiting an education to stand on pride.
Anonymous
10/31/2025 07:36
Subject: Heard a podcast claiming 30% of college students disabled?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Top 25 liberal arts schools, even higher than national universities
3% or less Air Force, Navy, Washington & Lee, West Point
7.36% Bowdoin
8.11% Wellesley
11.93% Hamilton
12.40% Claremont McKenna
12.58% Carleton
15.00% Bates
17.00% Richmond
17.90% Colgate
20.11% Harvey Mudd
20.12% Williams
20.99% Swarthmore
21.00% Grinnell
24.95% Davidson
25.00% Middlebury
25.06% Wesleyan
26.69% Pomona
26.77% Colby
27.00% Vassar
27.20% Haverford
28.00% Barnard
34.00% Amherst
38.00% Smith
Because the students there are mostly made up of the key demo for the fabricated diagnosis scam: white liberal UMC/affluent suburbanites.
Seems correct.
Anonymous
10/30/2025 11:40
Subject: Re:Heard a podcast claiming 30% of college students disabled?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Got to trust W&L SAT averages more than almost any other selective school: 3% only https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?q=Washington+and+Lee&s=all&id=234207#general
Since W&L is full of rich kid's, this cuts against the story that UMc and wealthy parents are seeking additional time accommodations to game the system.
I think it is a regional thing. Rich people in NYC and Boston and California at private schools or public schools in rich suburbs? It’s a thing. They don’t go down south for school…
Anonymous
10/30/2025 11:35
Subject: Heard a podcast claiming 30% of college students disabled?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Top 25 liberal arts schools, even higher than national universities
3% or less Air Force, Navy, Washington & Lee, West Point
7.36% Bowdoin
8.11% Wellesley
11.93% Hamilton
12.40% Claremont McKenna
12.58% Carleton
15.00% Bates
17.00% Richmond
17.90% Colgate
20.11% Harvey Mudd
20.12% Williams
20.99% Swarthmore
21.00% Grinnell
24.95% Davidson
25.00% Middlebury
25.06% Wesleyan
26.69% Pomona
26.77% Colby
27.00% Vassar
27.20% Haverford
28.00% Barnard
34.00% Amherst
38.00% Smith
Because the students there are mostly made up of the key demo for the fabricated diagnosis scam: white liberal UMC/affluent suburbanites.
And you are required to have “anxiety” to even get into Smith. In all seriousness, people with learning disabilities in the real world are disproportionately male. My intuition tells me that is not the case in the schools above — which should tell you something.
Anonymous
10/30/2025 11:29
Subject: Heard a podcast claiming 30% of college students disabled?
Anonymous wrote:Top 25 liberal arts schools, even higher than national universities
3% or less Air Force, Navy, Washington & Lee, West Point
7.36% Bowdoin
8.11% Wellesley
11.93% Hamilton
12.40% Claremont McKenna
12.58% Carleton
15.00% Bates
17.00% Richmond
17.90% Colgate
20.11% Harvey Mudd
20.12% Williams
20.99% Swarthmore
21.00% Grinnell
24.95% Davidson
25.00% Middlebury
25.06% Wesleyan
26.69% Pomona
26.77% Colby
27.00% Vassar
27.20% Haverford
28.00% Barnard
34.00% Amherst
38.00% Smith
So Amherst has 50% more than Williams? Wow.
Anonymous
10/30/2025 11:25
Subject: Heard a podcast claiming 30% of college students disabled?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:What's shocking is that these types of accommodations aren't offered in jobs after college.
Thank god we don’t
Um, employers are required to provide reasonable accommodations to workers with disabilities. Time to check in with HR!
I have anxiety (documented by rich parent, privately paid for neuropsych assessment) and need untimed tests does not legally translate into, “give me 2x the time to get my work done” for the same salary…
Anonymous
10/30/2025 11:23
Subject: Heard a podcast claiming 30% of college students disabled?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote: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.
He has a choice to report or not on his application. But he might benefit from registering with the disability office at his university.
Nobody claims it in their application. Duh.
Anonymous
10/30/2025 11:22
Subject: Heard a podcast claiming 30% of college students disabled?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I heard that even in law schools students are getting exemptions from timed finals.
It kind of blows my mind that in 2 decades we have basically thrown out measuring processing speed as a type of academic skill relevant to assessment. I guess I am biased since speed and tests are my strong point, but I do think that the capacity to absorb and understand information quickly is highly relevant to a lot of metrics of ability.
I’m the same as far as speed and tests but I also recognize that it really isn’t a major factor in most real life scenarios, including most legal jobs. I think it is not excused for assessments where speed is an essential part of the test — things like fire fighting, some medical skills, culinary classes, etc. Even for people who write on a deadline, timed exercises are not really reflective of the demands — you can generally just work later into the evening if you need more time since none of us are hourly employees. And for many people, they don’t need the extra time so long as they don’t have the anxiety of the ticking time clock pressure.
It absolutely is a factor in most legal jobs. Why do you think it is the kids with high LSATs and grades (under the old system) that end up eg Solicitor General? It’s not the only factor, but if you don’t have a basic level of intellectual speed, you cannot keep up at elite levels.
I agree. If your are in court you need to be able to analyze things almost instantly.
The irony being that people from top law schools are almost never in court?