How Do I Know if My College Student Has a Disability?
Because stereotypes about disability are so common, many parents are not aware that their child has a disability. If your child has any chronic conditions, it could be worth it to discuss accommodations with your child’s high school or college. This article will help you identify whether your child has a health condition that can qualify for accommodations.
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA): Activities of Daily Living
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a law that covers disability in the United States. It considers disability to be anything that affects activities of daily living. These activities include bathing, getting dressed, using the bathroom, eating, personal hygiene, walking, and the ability to transfer your body from one position to another, such as getting out of a chair. While certain tasks such as reading are not included in the ADA list, university disability access centers definitely consider reading disorders as worthy of accommodation, so don’t rule out your child’s health condition based on the ADA alone. I’m just sharing this information so you have a sense of some of the factors that disability offices use to evaluate for disability.
Rather than being strict with the ADA list, I recommend asking the following questions. Does my child have a chronic health condition? Does it affect their schoolwork, memory, pain levels, mobility, socializing, or wellbeing? If the answers to any of these questions are “yes,” it’s definitely worthwhile to have this conversation with your child’s school.
I am not a lawyer, and I encourage you to contact one if you have a specific question. However, I do discuss disability law to the extent of my ability to help families know their rights. For that reason, I wanted to share that ADA law typically protects anyone subject to United States law, not just Americans. ADA law can also help protect international students or other people living in the United States.
Disability Stereotypes: Feeling Like Your Kid Doesn’t “Count”
For most parents, the knee-jerk reaction is to assume that their child’s health conditions don’t “count” as a disability. I think there are multiple reasons for this phenomenon. First, we are exposed to messages about health and disability every day. Most of these messages are potentially harmful and inaccurate, such as stereotypes that disabled people are lazy or unintelligent. We are also exposed to messages that imply that disability is rare, shocking, and horrific.
In reality, disability affects at least 25% of the American public. If we consider mood disorders in teens, which can affect up to 60-80% of students (see my article on teen mental health), it’s clear that disability is actually far more common than we might think.
While many stereotypes imply that disability is shocking, extreme, and uncommon, the reality is that disability affects children that we would consider kind and normal. Maybe your kid is very bright, but gets frequent migraines or is prone to depression. Or your friend’s child is funny and caring, but struggles to read social cues due to autism. All of these conditions count. And if your child is having a hard time with their health, they deserve help.
Another common stereotype is that disability accommodations are unfair and that disabled students are taking advantage of the system to get “special treatment.” Let me assure you that this is not the case. Accommodations create MORE fairness, not less. If your child is in severe pain, they might need more time on their test. If your student has focus difficulties, it’s fair for them to have access to a quiet room. Fairness is commonly weaponized against students with health conditions. Please don’t fall for it.
Disability Access Isn’t “Special Treatment”
The idea that disability accommodations are “special treatment” is a common stereotype that targets students with health conditions. Many students are ashamed to use their accommodations even though they are medically necessary. It’s very unpleasant to need something different from your peers, to stand out, and to feel different. It’s very painful to need accommodations and to be told you’re a cheater (when you really were just born with a health issue, or acquired one over time through no fault of your own). It hurts when teachers and school staff tell you that you are too smart to need accommodations (implying that only stupid people are “really” disabled) or that you might as well not use accommodations because you aren’t smart enough to benefit anyway.
Disability stereotypes create an environment when nothing we do is right. I don’t believe that students are willing to live with this kind of stigma just to get access to things like books in electronic format. Kids just want to feel normal.
Conditions That Can Warrant Disability Accommodations:
This is not an all-inclusive list! I can’t list every condition that has ever existed, so please view this list as a tapas-style sampling. If I didn’t list your child’s health condition, it doesn’t mean they don’t deserve accommodations. It just means I didn’t think of that specific condition while typing this article.
Accommodations are commonly offered for physical disabilities such as M.S., but can also be used for mental health conditions (depression, anxiety, PTSD, OCD, bipolar, PMDD, schizophrenia, etc.) as well as forms of neurodivergence like autism, ADHD, and sensory processing disorder. Invisible disabilities count too, but anticipate that you may need to fight harder for them. It is usually obvious to disability staff that a student without legs has mobility issues, but disability case managers may overlook your child with hip dislocations and fainting from Ehlers Danlos. Expect that you will also need to fight harder to document rare disease. As someone living with rare disease myself, I find that even disability workers and doctors tend to assume that if they can’t see it, it’s not happening. I’ll try to post another piece on rare disease to give some tips on documenting this sufficiently.
Disability Severity
In some situations, your child’s health conditions may be accommodated if they are more severe but not if they are mild. For example, your child’s allergies may also qualify for accommodations if they cause anaphylaxis, but probably not if they are living with mild hay fever that responds to over the counter medications. They may qualify for accommodations if they cannot see well enough to read, but not if they have vision issues easily corrected with glasses or contacts.
If you are unsure whether your child’s conditions are serious enough, consider whether a) their safety is ever at risk or b) their focus is affected. You can also discuss this with your child’s disability case manager. If they don’t have one yet, contact your child’s college disability office to get started with disability paperwork. If your child is still in high school, contact your child’s high school to see who manages 504s and IEP accommodations.
I see a lot of discrimination at the high school level, so if your parent “spidey-sense” is giving you that feeling in the pit of your stomach that your child isn’t being treated ethically and their disability accommodations are being mismanaged, trust yourself. In this case, hiring a disability lawyer can help convince your child’s school to treat your child legally and with respect.
If you are running into difficulty figuring out how to best help your child, I also help families navigate accommodations when applying to college or once admitted (please see my 2025 offerings for more details). If I think your issue is best helped by a lawyer, I’ll be honest with you.
I hope this article has shared practical information that will help you advocate for your child. I also hope this content will help your student advocate for themselves when they are ready. Please feel free to share this article with other parents who might benefit!