19-05-2025
College Students With Disabilities Are Being Abandoned by the Trump Administration
Courtney Hale
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Right now hundreds of thousands of high school seniors are locking in their final decision about which college they plan to attend this fall. On top of the usual considerations when searching for a good match, disabled students often have to take campus accessibility and accommodations into account, including ramps, elevators, and amplification equipment.
Securing appropriate accommodations can already be more complicated in higher education than in primary or secondary school, and it's likely going to become more difficult as universities and colleges reduce their diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) practices under the threat of losing federal funding from the Trump administration.
Like many students, when I was applying to schools I was thinking about academic offerings and student activities. I was a wheelchair track Paralympic hopeful and wanted to train with some of the best, which slimmed down my options to a handful of universities with a wheelchair track and road racing team. I chose the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, which is believed to have the oldest disability services office in the country and boasts a robust athletic program, including one of the longest-running wheelchair track programs in US higher education. At the time I attended, in the early 2000s, the school's Disability Resources and Educational Services (DRES) building was home to an office for disability services that were more expansive than most.
Even though the university offered disability accommodation services, I still experienced significant difficulty in learning the ropes of asking for the same accommodations I'd had in high school. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) mandates that the preschool-to- grade-12 public education system coordinate disability services and accommodations by evaluating the student, then creating and implementing an educational approach, usually in the form of individualized education plans, or IEPs.
IDEA requires that states and local educational agencies provide disabled students with a free, appropriate public education in the least restrictive setting, which means integrating a disabled student into classes with their nondisabled peers as much as possible, and can involve providing support services and school aides. It offers states and local educational agencies federal funding to help identify, evaluate, and provide special education and related services to disabled children from birth to age 21 or the end of high school, whichever comes first. It also requires that institutions provide transition services to help disabled students achieve their postsecondary goals, such as attending college or obtaining employment.
Another federal law that offers academic support for disabled students is Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. This is a broader federal civil rights law that prohibits any organization, business, agency, or government program in receipt of federal funding from discriminating against someone with a disability.
Section 504 covers more students than IDEA and requires that preschool-to-grade-12 public education systems create accommodation plans. But states and school districts receive no specific federal funding for evaluations or services, which tends to disincentivize these schools from performing evaluations. Colleges, universities, and other postsecondary education programs also must abide by Section 504; however, institutions are not required to help identify disabilities or accommodation needs, meaning students must advocate for themselves.
As I settled in at the University of Illinois, the first thing I discovered was that IDEA no longer applied to me; when it came to academic accommodations, I was protected by Section 504 and the Americans With Disabilities Act. Many of my grade and secondary school evaluations couldn't be used to secure the accommodations I needed to attend college classes because the university viewed them as out-of-date.
Obtaining services also required a more proactive approach on my part than it used to. I had to email my professors to request accommodations, and it was often left up to a professor's discretion on whether to allow it. I was fairly lucky because DRES services were well-known on my campus, thanks to the visibility of our disabled athletes. Many of my teachers were amenable to providing accommodations, and when they were less inclined, DRES counselors helped me negotiate.
But countless other disabled postsecondary students aren't so lucky, and they often have to fight tooth and nail just to get basic accommodations like note-taking help, extended time on tests, or sign language interpreters. It's no wonder the graduation rates for disabled students are so abysmal. A 2017 longitudinal study found that 47% of disabled students who started postsecondary education in the 2011-12 school year left without a degree, compared with 30% of nondisabled students, according to a report from the US Government Accountability Office.
The US Department of Education is currently responsible for regulating the definitions of school-based discrimination and how to avoid it for preschool-through-grade-12 and postsecondary education. The department investigates submitted complaints and helps secure resolutions, such as by negotiating settlement agreements and consent decrees. Unfortunately, for years now, the department has struggled to keep up with the volume of discrimination complaints it receives from disabled students, with a number of student cases lagging for years. Alarmingly, this has forced some students to suspend their education or drop out entirely.
The Trump administration has made the situation even worse by eliminating some of the tools disabled students rely on to ensure we can transition successfully into college and graduate. Nearly half of the Department of Education's staff have been laid off, including many who worked within the Office for Civil Rights, where discrimination complaints are investigated and resolved. This is happening as we're also seeing an increased number of disabled college students. Experts, including current and former agency employees, say that, essentially, the department no longer has the staffing capacity to process student complaints, negotiate settlement agreements, or enforce consent decrees.
More — not less — needs to be done to help disabled students transition from high school to secondary education. Students need access to more resources to help them understand their rights, receive help applying for disability services, and, in some cases, secure financial assistance to get the evaluations required for approved accommodations.
As a self-advocate turned policy director, I can thank my college education for helping me succeed in a career and integrate into my community. It's up to all of us to support policies that improve the access of disabled people to higher education and fight back against anti-DEIA policies that divide and isolate vulnerable communities.
Originally Appeared on Teen Vogue
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