Why are 38 percent of Stanford students saying they're disabled? • Hacker News Board

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

#761

Post by SanjayMehta » Fri, Dec 05, 2025, 2:40 AM UTC

Phithagoras wrote: post #433

Aurornis wrote: post #367

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 acc…

In a high stakes, challenging environment, every human weakness possible becomes a huge, career impeding liability. Very few people are truly all-around talented. If you are a Stanford level scientist, it doesn't take a lot of anxiety to make it difficult to compete with other Stanford level scientists who don't have any anxiety. Without accommodations, you could still be a very successful scientist after going to a…

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

#762

Post by s5300 » Fri, Dec 05, 2025, 2:43 AM UTC

DuperPower wrote: post #760

Aurornis wrote: post #558

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Being diagnosed doesn't immediately mean you should be accommodated. This is the loophole. Universities aren't the ones diagnosing, they're the ones accommodating. The current meta-game is for parents and students to share notes about which doctors will diagnose easily. Between word of mouth and searches on Reddit, it's not that hard to find doctors in any metro area who will provide diagnoses and accommodation req…

universities should have their own experts who give final diagnosis and are unapelable and thats it, all the psychopathic circus which is abusing real disabled people would be out

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

#763

Post by SanjayMehta » Fri, Dec 05, 2025, 2:43 AM UTC

mmmlinux wrote: post #483

Phithagoras wrote: post #433

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In a high stakes, challenging environment, every human weakness possible becomes a huge, career impeding liability. Very few people are truly all-around talented. If you are a Stanford level scientist, it doesn't take a lot of anxiety to make it difficult to compete with other Stanford level scientists who don't have any anxiety. Without accommodations, you could still be a very successful scientist after going to a…

Water before toothpaste = adhd now?

I wash the brush before putting the paste on. I also doodle. I guess I have ADHD and everyone here should now accommodate my eccentricities.

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

#764

Post by jaredklewis » Fri, Dec 05, 2025, 2:44 AM UTC

bawolff wrote: post #634

jaredklewis wrote: post #482

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The braille example you give makes absolutely perfect sense. The blind student is being evaluated same as the other students and the accommodation given to the blind student (a Braille version of the test) would be of no use to the other students. But extra test time is fundamentally different, as it would be of value to anyone taking the test. If getting the problems in Braille helps the student demonstrate their ab…

> But extra test time is fundamentally different, as it would be of value to anyone taking the test. That depends on how the test is designed. Some tests have more material than anyone can hope to finish. Extra time is always valuable in such a test. However that type of test is generally bad because it more measures speed then skill. Most tests are designed so the average person is able to finish all the questions.…

If you saying a good test measures skill and not speed, what is the rationale for withholding the extra time from some students? I'm not saying you have to use all the time. I finished many a college exam early and left. No biggie.

I'm just saying if you are going to let some kids stay longer, let everyone stay longer. And you seem to agree on that point.

Either have a time limit for everyone or no one.

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

#765

Post by lostmsu » Fri, Dec 05, 2025, 2:46 AM UTC

IAmBroom wrote: post #289

lostmsu wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The percentages of workers that are neurodivergent is much higher than usual Is it much though? 38%? I haven't seen one in 15 years across 5+ different companies. > there's a big cadre or neurodivergent people that are just in the line where they are very productive workers anyway Alternatively, it just became popular to label others or oneself that way. And tech elites have nothing better to do in free time. Also…

> Also DEI benefits! Ah, you accidentally showed your hand there. DEI does not provide benefits; it seeks to prevent continued, assumedly unfair, selection processes. Whether or not that is appropriate, or if the system was unfair, is arguable; fictitious "benefits" are not. No one gets a DEI check from the government. But since you don't even see that others around you have disabilities, we can't really expect you t…

> DEI does not provide benefits

I don't know how you can define DEI without enumerating benefits these policies provide to certain groups of people, some of which, like the ones being discussed, have very flexible boundaries.

> No one gets a DEI check from the government.

We are discussing private institution(s). But if left unchecked that could expand to local governments.

> But since you don't even see that others around you have disabilities

Oh, I've seen plenty of people who had disabilities for the purposes of draft/mandatory military service.

> we can't really expect you to know much more than Fox tells you.

Your ability to figure out other people's information sources is most certainly no better than my ability to figure out if people have mental disabilities.

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

#766

Post by lostmsu » Fri, Dec 05, 2025, 2:50 AM UTC

LoganDark wrote: post #572

quickthrowman wrote: post #443

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you considered the fact that you may be neurodivergent? Your assumption that you’ve never met a neurodivergent co-worker is surprising. From what I understand, some autistic people assume everyone has the same worldview and agenda as they do, they lack a theory of mind. I’m not making this accusation about you, I’m bringing it up because I find it surprising that everyone you’ve worked with is neurotypical. I ca…

> Have you considered the fact that you may be neurodivergent? I scrolled through some of their Reddit comment history (it's linked on their profile) and I think I would peg them as probably autistic. Their patterns of emphasis, placements of sentence breaks, certain turns of phrases and pattern of emotional expression seem to closely match a few autistic friends I have & a few autistic coworkers. Research on this ha…

> it just became popular to label others

Feel like my theory of mind is just fine given its predictive power.

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

#767

Post by MangoToupe » Fri, Dec 05, 2025, 2:55 AM UTC

apparent wrote: post #121

MangoToupe wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think there's a non-malicious explanation for a percentage of this. What on earth is a "malicious" explanation of this?

That people know they do not actually need/qualify for accommodations, but misrepresent themselves in order to get them?

Ok but such a person who thinks this way is definitionally in need of help; who would waste any brain wattage caring about this? Do they also need government subsidies to pay attention to their own lives?

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

#768

Post by bradlys » Fri, Dec 05, 2025, 2:55 AM UTC

astrange wrote: post #733

deaux wrote: post #723

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That link supports the thesis if everything? Top 0.01%, +9.1% Top 0.1%, +13.9% Top 1%, +15.2% Top 10%, +6.1% Middle 40%, -6% Bottom 50%, -0.1% This supports exactly GP's two statements: > we are concentrating all the wealth and power into the hands of a few. Correct, their slice of the pie is growing, the bottom 90%'s is shrinking > This leaves the top 1% getting richer every year and the bottom 99% fighting over a s…

> > we are concentrating all the wealth and power into the hands of a few. > Correct, their slice of the pie is growing, the bottom 90%'s is shrinking Not sure about "power" there. In my experience you get power by having a lot of free time and dedication to something else other people don't care about… which yes includes billionaires obviously, but most of the people meeting that description are just middle class re…

Who is in the white house regularly dictating policy? Is it old retirees with no money or connections?

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

#769

Post by bluefirebrand » Fri, Dec 05, 2025, 2:59 AM UTC

skywhopper wrote: post #34

bluefirebrand wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right. What I'm saying is that we've probably screwed up by creating a system that incentivizes people to "be disabled" even if they really are stretching the definition of disabled

I hope you realize that the students don’t think of themselves as “disabled” in the disparaging way you mean it. I have ADHD and I’m color blind. Both conditions make me “disabled” in some sense, and yet I went to college and have managed to have a job my whole adult life. Being “disabled” doesn’t mean “useless” or “incapable of doing anything” as you seem to imply.

I don't think you understand my position and you're certainly reading tone I didn't intend into my words

I am nearsighted, I am ADHD, I am hearing impaired in one ear, I am celiac. All of these are lifetime conditions that are not going anywhere

If glasses didn't exist, I would certainly be disabled. But let's be real, no one considers glasses a disability, even though glasses are just as important to a vision impaired person as a wheelchair is to a walking impaired person

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

#770

Post by diogenescynic » Fri, Dec 05, 2025, 3:01 AM UTC

The same reason so many have a medical marijuana prescription, or a disabled license plate, or a 'service animal' that they bring into restaurants, grocery stores, and airplanes, or so many people take advantage of wheelchair service at airports then walk off the plane without help. If there is a system, people will find a way to abuse it and find shortcuts and loopholes to exploit.