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Why are 38 percent of Stanford students saying they're disabled?

reason.com

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Re: Why are 38 percent of Stanford students saying they're disabled?

#361

Post by gtirloni »

Aurornis wrote: post #315

> one professor told Horowitch. "It's just not. It's rich kids getting extra time on tests." This is a blunt quote, but it gets at a key part of the problem: Qualifying as having a disability can come with some material benefits in many schools. The intentions are good: Schools are doing what they think is best to accommodate and help students with disabilities. It has been a high priority for decades. However, some…

> The intentions are good: Schools are doing what they think is best to accommodate and help students with disabilities

Considering it's the US, schools are just avoiding to get sued.

Re: Why are 38 percent of Stanford students saying they're disabled?

#362

Post by eightys3v3n »

paulpauper wrote: post #182
hibikir wrote: post #58

I think there's a non-malicious explanation for a percentage of this. As I grew up in the 80s, there were two kinds of gifted kids in school: The kind that would ace everything anyway, and the kind that, for a variety of reasons, lacked the regulation abilities to manage the school setting well, with the slow classes and such. A lot of very smart people just failed academically, because the system didn't work for the…

where just following the conversation is a problem, while they are outright bored with the highest difficulty technical AP classes available, because they find them very easy. Then accommodations should not be needed if they are so easy, unless I am missing something?

Accommodations don't have to be used in all classes. They might need accommodations in an English class and no accommodations in the scientific or math classes. Usually this isn't evaluated per class, it's evaluated per student and then it's up to the student to use or not use the accommodations for the various classes they take.

Re: Why are 38 percent of Stanford students saying they're disabled?

#363

Post by jjtheblunt »

slibhb wrote: post #296

We will end up with everyone identifying as disabled (or at least "neurodivergent"). Then we'll all be back on the same level and someone will have to invent a new category that will also grow until it too encompasses everyone. And so on.

you just reminded me of the Rush song The Trees, though not quite the same meaning

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Trees_(Rush_song)

Re: Why are 38 percent of Stanford students saying they're disabled?

#364

Post by fsmv »

What a disgusting article. It's abliest to say that disabled students won't be able to make it Stanford. The only weird part is calling anxiety and depression a disability.

Saying that people who are using accommodations are cheating is morally repugnant.

Instead of saying that we need to clamp down on people claiming disabilities, we should open up the accommodations to everyone.

Re: Why are 38 percent of Stanford students saying they're disabled?

#365

Post by slibhb »

IAmBroom wrote: post #332
slibhb wrote: post #296

We will end up with everyone identifying as disabled (or at least "neurodivergent"). Then we'll all be back on the same level and someone will have to invent a new category that will also grow until it too encompasses everyone. And so on.

Nihilistic guesses are fun. They make you look smart, without any of the difficulty of understanding or thinking of solutions.

The solution is learning to tell people "you do not meet our criteria for being disabled". Alternatively, Congress could amend the ADA or someone could sue and win a court decision changing how it is interpreted.

Re: Why are 38 percent of Stanford students saying they're disabled?

#366

Post by byronic »

The hyperbolic "surely a child with a learning disability can't (or shouldn't) go to college!" is very funny post-1950. John Keats wrote the definitive treatise on the subject and nobody read it. The secondary "oh no, rich kids are getting unfair advantages!" argument makes the article somehow worse and less informed. I feel dumber for having read it.

My conclusion: Reason is running the world's dumbest cover for The Atlantic

Re: Why are 38 percent of Stanford students saying they're disabled?

#367

Post by Aurornis »

shetaye wrote: post #81

Regarding Stanford specifically, I did not see the number broken down by academic or residential disability (in the underlying Atlantic article). This is relevant, because > Some students get approved for housing accommodations, including single rooms and emotional-support animals. buries the lede, at least for Stanford. It is incredibly commonplace for students to "get an OAE" (Office of Accessible Education) exclus…

The original article which is linked in this post goes into much better detail: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/2026/01/elite-universit...

Schools and universities have made accommodations a priority for decades. It started with good intentions, but parents and students alike have noticed that it's both a) easy to qualify for a disability and b) provides significant academic advantages if you do.

Another big accommodation request is extra time on tests. At many high schools and universities, getting more time than your peers to take tests is as simple as finding a doctor who will write the write things in a note for you. Some universities grant special permissions to record lectures to students with disabilities, too.

If you don't have a disability, you aren't allowed to record lectures and you have to put your pencil down at the end of the normal test window. As you can imagine, when a high percentage of the student body gets to stay longer for a hard test, the wheels start turning in students' heads as they realize cheating is being normalized and they're being left behind by not getting that doctors' note.

The rampant abuse is really becoming a problem for students with true disabilities. As you can imagine, when the disability system is faced with 1/3 of the student body registering for disability status the limited number of single rooms and other resources will inevitably get assigned to people who don't need it while some who actually do need it are forced to go without.

Re: Why are 38 percent of Stanford students saying they're disabled?

#368

Post by scratchyone »

dctoedt wrote: post #100

I'm mostly a law professor these days. When final-exam time rolls around (as in, this week), I raise my eyebrows when I'm sent the list of students who get 50% extra time. I wouldn't presume to judge the propriety of any given student's accommodation. But many of the accommodated students seem to have done just fine in class discussions during the semester. FTA: "Unnecessary accommodations are a two-front form of che…

FWIW, consider that some of these students may need the accommodation specifically because of the pressure of the final exam. Many mental health disabilities will become worse with stress. A low stress environment and a high stress final exam could trigger entirely different symptoms.

For example, I have OCD (real, diagnosed, not the bs "omg im so ocddddd"). I have extra time accommodations because I have to spend time dealing with my OCD symptoms. With treatment, they tend to fade into the background. They re-emerge only in high stress situations. I would seem like a perfectly normal student in class, but then clearly start struggling with these symptoms if you watched me take an exam. Consider, many other students you teach may have these same experiences.

Re: Why are 38 percent of Stanford students saying they're disabled?

#369

Post by izacus »

lumost wrote: post #335
shetaye wrote: post #81

Regarding Stanford specifically, I did not see the number broken down by academic or residential disability (in the underlying Atlantic article). This is relevant, because > Some students get approved for housing accommodations, including single rooms and emotional-support animals. buries the lede, at least for Stanford. It is incredibly commonplace for students to "get an OAE" (Office of Accessible Education) exclus…

They lead with the headline that most of these students have a mental health disability - particularly ADHD. Is it surprising that legalized Amphetamines drive teenagers to higher performance for a short period in their lives? Adderall and other amphetamines only have problems with long term usage. It should be expected that some portion of the teenage population sees a net-benefit from Amphetamines for the duration…

It's much more likely that ADHD diagnosis is easier to get when trying to get disability benefits and has practically no downsides for the student.

It's much harder to fake deafness or blindness to get that extra housing and exam benefits.

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