A Fair Shot: Why Academic Accommodations Are About Opportunity, Not Advantage

I’ve seen too many smart, capable people spend years trying to adapt themselves to a world that seems almost designed to ensure their failure. Eventually, something happens.

They stop asking, “What do I need in order to succeed?” and start asking, “What’s wrong with me?” That distinction matters. Because if we are serious when we talk about equity, inclusion, and equal opportunity- then we also have to be serious about giving people with disabilities a fair chance to succeed. 

To me, academic accommodation are really not that different from wheelchair ramps. We don't look at a wheelchair ramp and complain that someone is getting an unfair advantage. We understand why it's there. The stairs created a barrier that had nothing to do with that person's ability to learn, work, contribute, or succeed. The ramp doesn't guarantee where that person will go once they enter the building. It just lets them through the door. Academic accommodations should be viewed the same way.

Equal Treatment Isn't Always Equal Opportunity

Lecture Time

There is an important difference between treating everyone identically and giving everyone a meaningful opportunity to succeed.

Imagine two students taking the same examination. Both are expected to know the same material and meet the same academic standard. But one has a disability that substantially affects concentration, reading speed, information processing, or another function involved in taking that examination. If extended testing time is appropriate for that student, giving them additional time doesn't give them the answers- It gives them access to the test. The student still has to know the material. They still have to demonstrate competency. They can still fail. The difference is that we're trying to measure what they actually know instead of how effectively their disability interferes with their ability to demonstrate it.

Federal disability protections reflect essentially the same principle. Qualified students with disabilities may receive reasonable academic adjustments necessary to provide equal access to education. At the same time, schools are not required to eliminate essential academic requirements or fundamentally change their programs.

I think that's a reasonable balance. The objective isn't to lower the finish line- It's to remove unnecessary barriers on the way to it.

A Wheelchair Is Visible. ADHD Isn't.

Some disabilities are easier to understand because we can see the barriers they create. With invisible disabilities, those barriers are often much harder to recognize. ADHD, learning disabilities, anxiety disorders, autism, PTSD, depression, and other psychiatric and neurological conditions don't always announce themselves to the people around us. Instead, what we tend to notice are the consequences.

The student with ADHD is “disorganized.” The student with anxiety “doesn't perform well under pressure.” The person with a learning disability “needs to study harder”.  What we don't see is the effort happening behind the scenes. Sometimes that student is already studying harder than everyone else in the room. They may be putting in twice the effort just to reach the same starting line, only to be judged by the difficulty they have getting there.

Research suggests students with invisible disabilities can face persistent academic and social disadvantages in higher education. Previous research has also found disparities in degree completion among college students with disabilities.

Those findings aren't evidence that these students are incapable. If anything, they should make us ask a different question: Are we actually measuring someone's ability, or are we measuring how well they can overcome barriers that have nothing to do with their potential?

 Accommodations Aren't an Easy Button

I want to be clear about something.

I don't believe every requested accommodation should automatically be granted. I don't believe professional or academic standards should disappear because someone has a diagnosis, and I certainly don't believe accommodations should guarantee an outcome. They should be individualized. They should address legitimate functional limitations. And they should be reasonable.

Research supports that nuance. Not every commonly requested accommodation has equally strong evidence supporting its effectiveness, including among students with ADHD, but that's an argument for thoughtful accommodations, not for dismissing them.

Extended testing time doesn't make someone understand pharmacology. A quiet testing environment doesn't teach anatomy. Assistive technology doesn't write someone's paper. The student still has to do the work.

So the real question should be: What does this person reasonably need in order to have the same opportunity to demonstrate their ability?

That's very different from asking how we can make an academic program easier.

 There Shouldn't Be Shame in Using the Ramp

This may be the part that bothers me the most. I've seen people hesitate to ask for accommodations because they're afraid of what someone will think about them.

They don't want to look weak.

They don't want instructors thinking they're less capable.

They don't want classmates believing they're getting special treatment.

And sometimes they've spent so many years being told to “try harder” that they've started believing needing help means they've failed.

It doesn't.

Research has documented stigma surrounding invisible disabilities among college students,

Including ADHD and learning disabilities. Someone can be extraordinarily intelligent and have ADHD.  Someone can be incredibly driven and have a learning disability.

Someone can struggle with anxiety and still become an outstanding nurse, physician, engineer, therapist, teacher, sonographer, scientist, entrepreneur, or anything else they decide to pursue.

Those things aren't contradictions, and using an accommodation doesn't diminish what someone accomplishes.

The ramp didn't climb the stairs for them. It simply removed a barrier that never needed to be part of the test in the first place.

Think About Who We Could Be Losing

This is the part I think deserves more attention.

How many incredibly talented people have walked away from education because they eventually concluded they weren't smart enough? How many could have become exceptional healthcare professionals, educators, scientists, artists, engineers, or leaders? How many have spent years thinking something was wrong with them when the real problem was that they were trying to function in an environment that wasn't designed with their needs in mind? We will probably never know, but I don't think we should accept losing capable people simply because their brains or bodies work differently.

 At PRX Wellness, we believe mental healthcare should ultimately help people build lives that are meaningful to them.  Treatment isn't just about reducing symptoms on a questionnaire. It's about helping someone function. Helping them recover. Helping them grow. And giving them the opportunity to pursue the life they're capable of living. Education can be an enormous part of that.

A degree can become a career. A career can create independence, stability, confidence, purpose, and an opportunity to contribute something meaningful to the world.

People with disabilities deserve a fair shot at those things too.

A Fair Shot at a Meaningful Life

Academic accommodations aren't about making life easy. Life isn't easy and, for better or worse, education often isn’t easy either. The difficulty should come from mastering the material, developing the skills, meeting professional standards, and doing the work. A disability shouldn't become an additional entrance exam.

If we genuinely believe in equal opportunity, then our responsibility isn't to guarantee that everyone succeeds- It's to make sure everyone has a reasonable opportunity to try. We already understand this when we build ramps, elevators, accessible entrances, and other accommodations for physical disabilities.

We should extend the same understanding to disabilities we can't see. Build the ramp, provide the appropriate accommodation, maintain the standards, and then let people show us what they're capable of.

The goal isn't to make the road easy- It's to make sure everyone capable of traveling it actually gets a fair shot.