Insights for Disability Services Professionals
Research-backed articles on accommodation management, FERPA compliance, and accessibility trends in higher education. Written by named practitioners with real DRC experience.
The Office for Civil Rights received 19,000+ complaints last year, a 40% jump. Disability-related complaints in higher ed are the fastest-growing category. Here's how to protect your institution.
Proposed federal legislation would require colleges to accept high school IEPs and 504 plans as accommodation documentation. Here's what DRC staff need to prepare for.
A dramatic surge in accommodation requests is reshaping higher education. 40% of Stanford undergrads and 21% of Harvard undergrads now receive accommodations. Here's what DRC directors need to know.
Compare AIM, Symplicity Accommodate, Clockwork, and AccommodoHub. Features, pricing, implementation timelines, and the 7 questions every DRC director should ask vendors.
You send the accommodation letter. But did the professor actually read it? Without faculty acknowledgment tracking, you have a documentation gap that OCR can exploit. Here's how to close it.
Every semester, DRCs burn weeks re-verifying accommodations that haven't changed. Automated semester renewals reclaim that time for students who actually need help. Here's the operational playbook.
DRC directors are asked to do more with less every year. But most can't answer basic questions about caseloads, response times, or trends. Here's how analytics changes the conversation with administration.
More Articles
The Self-Advocacy Gap: Why Only 37% of Disabled College Students Disclose
NCES data shows nearly two-thirds of college students with disabilities never register for services. First-generation students and students of color are most affected. Here's how to close the gap.
Universal Design for Learning (UDL): Moving Beyond Individual Accommodations
UDL transforms disability services by designing courses to be accessible from the start, reducing accommodation requests by up to 30% while improving outcomes for all students.
FERPA Compliance for Disability Services: The Complete 2026 Guide
Navigate FERPA requirements for disability records, accommodation letters, parent requests, and software vendors. Includes common violations to avoid and a compliance checklist.
Running an Efficient Testing Center: Best Practices for 2026
From scheduling systems to staffing models, here's how top institutions manage accommodated testing with 15-30% annual growth in demand.
Mental Health Accommodations in College: What DRC Staff Need to Know in 2026
Mental health conditions now drive the majority of new accommodation requests. Here's how to evaluate documentation, implement accommodations, and support students with anxiety, depression, and ADHD.
The Real Cost of Manual Accommodation Tracking: Spreadsheets, Sticky Notes, and Compliance Risk
Most DRCs still manage accommodations with Excel, email, and institutional memory. Here's what that actually costs in staff time, compliance exposure, and student outcomes.
Building an Effective Accommodation Intake Process: From First Contact to Approved Plan
The intake meeting is where the accommodation relationship begins, or breaks down. Here's how to design a process that's thorough, efficient, and student-centered without creating bottlenecks.
Temporary Disability Accommodations in Higher Ed: Concussions, Surgeries, and Short-Term Needs
Not every accommodation request is for a permanent condition. Temporary disabilities like concussions, broken bones, and post-surgical recovery need a different and faster process.
K-12 to College: Why Half of Accommodated High School Students Never Register with Their College DRC
Students go from IEPs and parental advocacy to a system where they must self-identify and navigate a completely different process. The transition gap is real, measurable, and largely preventable.
Accessible Course Materials: Why PDF Remediation Alone Isn't Enough Anymore
Converting PDFs to accessible formats is necessary but insufficient. The real challenge is building faculty capacity to create accessible content from the start.
The Adjunct Faculty Problem: Why 60% of Your Professors May Not Know About Student Accommodations
Adjunct faculty teach over half of college courses but are the least likely to receive, read, or implement accommodation letters. This isn't malice, it's a systemic communication failure.
Emergency Accommodation Requests: What to Do When a Student Needs Help Now
A student shows up Monday morning after a weekend car accident. A veteran has a PTSD episode during finals week. Your standard 5-day intake process won't cut it. Here's the emergency protocol every DRC needs.
Building a High-Volume Accessible Testing Center: Lessons from Processing 6,000 Accommodated Exams Per Year
Our testing center went from 800 to 6,000 exams in five years. Here's everything I learned about scheduling, room management, proctor training, and not losing your mind in finals week.
Year-End DRC Compliance Checklist: 12 Things to Review Before Spring Semester
The semester break is the only time most DRCs have to step back and audit their processes. Here's a practical checklist covering documentation, faculty communication, data privacy, and operational gaps.
The Growing Role of AI in Disability Services: Opportunities, Limitations, and Ethical Guardrails
AI tools are entering every corner of higher education, including DRCs. From predictive analytics to automated accommodation matching, here's what's promising, what's premature, and what's potentially harmful.
Housing and Dining Accommodations: The DRC Responsibility Most Offices Understaff
Residential accommodations, emotional support animals, single rooms, dietary needs, sensory-friendly housing, are among the fastest-growing and most contentious areas in disability services. Most DRCs aren't staffed for it.
Neurodiversity in Higher Education: Moving Beyond Deficit-Based Accommodation Models
The neurodiversity paradigm is reshaping how institutions think about ADHD, autism, dyslexia, and other neurological differences. But most DRC processes are still built on a medical-deficit framework. Here's what's changing.
COVID's Lasting Impact on College Disability Services: What Stayed, What Changed, and What's Coming
The pandemic forced changes that DRCs had resisted for years. Five years later, some stuck, remote meetings, flexible attendance, and some didn't. Here's the landscape in 2025.
ADA Compliance in Online and Hybrid Learning: The New Frontier for Disability Services
Post-pandemic, 40% of college courses have an online component. But ADA compliance in digital learning environments remains poorly understood, and enforcement is catching up.
DRC Staff Burnout Is a Compliance Risk: Why Caseloads Above 350 Students Start Breaking Things
When DRC coordinators are overwhelmed, processing times increase, documentation gets sloppy, and students stop getting served. That's not just a morale problem, it's a compliance problem.
5 FERPA Mistakes DRCs Make Every Semester (and How to Stop Making Them)
FERPA violations in disability services are rarely malicious, they're procedural. These five common mistakes happen at almost every DRC, and most don't even realize they're doing it.
Documentation Standards for Invisible Disabilities: A Practitioner's Framework for ADHD, Anxiety, and Chronic Pain
Invisible disabilities account for over 70% of accommodation requests, but documentation standards vary wildly across institutions. Here's a consistent, defensible framework that balances rigor with access.
About Our Authors
Every article is written by a named practitioner with real experience in disability services. No ghost-written content, no anonymous teams.
Dr. Thandiwe Osei-Mensah, Ed.D.
Director of Disability Services
Naveen Krishnamurthy, M.S., ATP
Assistive Technology Specialist
Dr. Inés Delgado-Fuentes, Ph.D., LPC
Clinical Psychologist
Soren Halvorsen-Tanaka, M.Ed., CPACC
Accessibility Coordinator
Dr. Faridah Zawadi Mwangi, J.D., M.A.
Higher Ed Policy Analyst