Disability Accommodation and Accessibility in Post-secondary Education: A Preliminary Study

Accommodations are a critical component of accessibility for students with disabilities in post-secondary education. Although the purpose of accommodations is to ensure that students with disabilities have equal opportunity to excel within a learning environment, only a minute portion of the disabled population registers to acquire accommodations in university. Numerous barriers that students with disabilities encounter when obtaining accommodations have been identified in previous literature; however, our research intends to exhaustively examine the nature of prominent barriers at a local university and particularly amongst unregistered students. By understanding why various barriers exist and the limitations they impose on students, universities and other influential systems can attempt to alleviate these obstacles inhibiting accessibility in post-secondary education. This study explores disability as a political identity, evaluates attitudes towards disability in the U.S., and discusses proposed barriers in education from past research. It then analyses data from a survey given to students with neurodevelopmental, mental or emotional, or learning disabilities that are not registered with student disability services. Through descriptive statistics and qualitative analysis, this study identifies prominent barriers alongside student regard for accommodation effectiveness. Finally, this study provides guidance in targeting these disparities to educational institutions.