A surge in the use of disability accommodations, especially extra time on exams, is reigniting debates about fairness in higher education. For professors, the increase in accommodations has proven to be difficult to manage.
Over the past decade, the number of students qualifying for these accommodations has skyrocketed. At the University of Chicago, the figure has more than tripled in eight years; at UC Berkeley, it has nearly quintupled in 15 years. At Amherst College, 34 percent of undergraduates are registered as disabled while at Harvard and Brown, the figure surpasses 20 percent.
As Victoria Vesovski writes “The shift isn’t what many assume. As one professor told The Atlantic anonymously, because he doesn’t have tenure, “You hear ‘students with disabilities,’ and it’s not kids in wheelchairs,” he said. “It’s rich kids getting extra time on tests.”
This mindset is troubling. Many disabilities are invisible. For instance, a student with dyslexia may need electronic textbooks, and a student with dyscalculia (a learning disability related to math) may need a calculator. These disabilities are no less valid than a physical disability.
In college, students seeking accommodations have to submit paperwork to their college’s office of disability services. The whole process is often long, bureaucratic, and not everyone who needs accommodations gets them. I have definitely struggled with this.
This is precisely why the narrative of “rich kids getting extra time” frustrates me. It simplifies a process that is already very complicated and unequal.
Yet, this conversation cannot simply end with “some students abuse the system.” This assumption clouds the fact that academia never considered disabilities in the first place. If more students require these accommodations, should we see this as a problem of cheating or as an indication of how many students have been excluded from academics or forced to struggle?
While the increased number of diagnoses is in large part a reflection of greater knowledge, increased access to professionals, and a culture in which students are less likely to hide their struggles, this trend also brings the inequalities of the system into sharp focus. Testing can cost a lot of money. Paperwork can range from minimal to extensive. Professors are often left without much instruction on how to incorporate modifications effectively.
Instead of assuming bad faith, we should be asking better questions: How can universities streamline the process so that accommodations are both accessible and reasonable? How can faculty be supported so they aren’t left to navigate this alone? And most importantly, how can we build learning environments flexible enough that fewer students need individualized accommodations in the first place?
Accommodations aren’t about giving certain students an advantage. They are about leveling a playing field that has never been level to begin with. Recognizing invisible disabilities isn’t a threat to academic integrity. It’s a commitment to equity, dignity, and the belief that all students deserve a fair chance to succeed.
Sources:
Clemens, Nathan H., and Sharon Vaughn. ‘Understandings and Misunderstandings About Dyslexia: Introduction to the Special Issue’. Reading Research Quarterly, vol. 58, no. 2, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, Apr. 2023, pp. 181–187, https://doi.org/10.1002/rrq.499.
Jacobson, Rae. “How to Spot Dyscalculia.” Child Mind Institute, Child Mind Institute, 8 Mar. 2024, childmind.org/article/how-to-spot-dyscalculia/.
Vesovski, Victoria. “Ivy League Disability Accommodations Surge as Students Get Extra Test Time and More Support, Raising Concerns.” Yahoo! Finance, Yahoo!, 22 Dec. 2025, finance.yahoo.com/news/ivy-league-disability-accommodations-surge-123000542.html.