Disabled Students’ Field Guide to Starting College
Disabled Students’ Field Guide to Starting College
A Letter To The Disabled Student Reading This:
You’re starting college! Congratulations!! You should be so proud. That said, college was not built for us. The lecture hall has stairs. Your professor doesn’t do excused absences. The campus map lists every coffee shop on earth and zero accessible bathrooms. The dining hall is sensory hell.
This is the thing I wish someone had handed me before I showed up at orientation. A field guide to the rights you actually have, how to email, how to request accommodations, the tips to best adjust to college life, how to find community, and find your place.
You’re walking into a lineage, disabled people who fought, got arrested, organized, and made room for the next generation. This zine is your inheritance. Use it. Write in it. Argue with it. Photocopy it. Pass it on to someone else.
The Fight That Got You Here
Every right in this zine came from somebody. Not from a politician. Not from a grateful university. Disabled people, organized and furious, tired of being pitied into invisibility, risked jobs and bodies so students later could walk into a disability services office and register. That anger is you.
Every accommodation letter you send is a thank-you note to the people who won that letter into existence. Every right you use is a right you keep alive.
1962. Ed Roberts, who used a wheelchair and slept in an iron lung, became the first significantly disabled student admitted to Berkeley. The university had no accessible housing except the campus infirmary. He found other disabled students. They called themselves the Rolling Quads. By 1972 they’d built the first Center for Independent Living on earth. (Every CIL traces back to them. So does your campus disability office.)
1977. Judy Heumann, Kitty Cone, and 150+ disabled activists occupied the San Francisco federal building for 25 days — the longest sit-in of a federal building in U.S. history — until the government finally signed Section 504. The Black Panther Party cooked hot meals and smuggled in supplies; Brad Lomax, a Black disabled Panther, made that coalition happen. (Section 504 is the law protecting you in college. Right now. Because of them.)
1990. Activists climbed out of their wheelchairs and dragged themselves up the marble steps of the U.S. Capitol to shame Congress into passing the ADA. Jennifer Keelan was eight years old. The photo went around the world. Congress passed the ADA four months later. (That's the law making your dorm, classroom, and campus job accessible.)
2005 and onward. Patty Berne, Leroy Moore, Mia Mingus, Stacey Park Milbern, and Sins Invalid articulated disability justice — insisting that liberation center the people mainstream disability rights too often left behind: disabled Black, Brown, queer, fat, poor, undocumented, and institutionalized people. (They shape how we talk about access today, whether we name it or not.)
Before you walk into any office, professor's hours, or meeting with a defensive administrator, know what the law guarantees you. These aren't favors. They're not negotiable. You are entitled to every one of them.
Section 504 (1973) & the ADA: Any college taking federal money can't discriminate based on disability. The ADA extends that into housing, facilities, events, the fitness center, the career fair. You have the right to reasonable accommodations across your whole academic and campus life.
FERPA & Your Privacy: Your documentation and accommodation records are protected. Professors get told what accommodations you're approved for, that's it. Not your diagnosis. Not your history. That's yours. To get accommodations, you do NOT have to name your disability. You just need to provide documentation showing a disability creating a functional barrier.
The Right to Appeal: If accommodations get denied or watered down, you can appeal, through disability services, up to the Dean of Students, and if needed, the U.S. Dept. of Education's Office for Civil Rights. OCR complaints are free. No lawyer needed.
K-12: IDEA vs College: 504/ADA
With K-12: The school identifies and evaluates you, IEP team is required to meet & plan with you, Services and evaluations are free, Curriculum modifications are available, Parents and case managers are included in planning, and Aides, specialized instruction, behavior plans are possible. In college: You need to contact Disability Services and provide your own documentation, You must schedule meetings and self advocate now, Documentation is often on you (and sometimes pricey). Services like PT, OT, and Speech, are not provided, Fundamental program alterations are NOT allowed, Parents and case managers have no automatic role, you must bring them in, and Only "Reasonable" academic and physical accommodations (not prohibitively expensive or alterations to fundamental requirements).
Examples of College Accommodations include:
Alternate Testing Locations
The Medical Binder: Yes, nerdy. Do it anyway. This thing has saved people in ERs where they couldn't talk. Include: diagnoses (plain English + clinical), all meds (name, dose, prescriber, pharmacy, refill date), allergies and what they actually do to you, relevant history, emergency contacts and healthcare proxy, a list of all your providers (physical and mental health) and their contact info, insurance info, vaccination records, recent labs/imaging, and a one-page summary you can hand to a stranger in an emergency.
Switching & Meeting Providers (If moving far from home): If you are moving far from home, and might not have reliable transportation back for medical appointments, start the switch 3–6 months before you leave. Get a written summary letter from each of your current providers. Ask about a 90-day med supply for the transition. Check whether your insurance covers out-of-state providers, this catches a lot of people. Book first appointments before the semester starts, wait times balloon fast. Ask about telehealth options too. Do NOT expect campus health to be able to do anything beyond what an urgent care can handle.
Mental Health Planning: First semester is rough on almost everyone's mental health. Get on counseling waitlists early, either through your school, or with an outside provider. Save the numbers: 988 (call or text), Crisis Text Line (text HOME to 741741), and any campus safety lines. Look for both formal and informal support groups, disability affinity groups, peer support, clubs. Isolation is a real issue. Make sure you have a safety plan. Write down: (1) your earliest "something is off" signs, (2) what actually helps (specific: which friend, which playlist, which room), (3) who you can call, (4) a backup for when you can't get to a therapist, (5) the accommodations that protect your mental health most. If you feel comfortable, give a copy to a person you trust.
Scholarships & Financial Support
Most disabled students don't know how much money is earmarked for us. These aren't charity pots. They exist because disabled students deal with costs and barriers others don't. Apply to anything you're remotely eligible for. Worst case is "no." Best case is a check. Always apply as soon as possible for all of these.
Vocational Rehabilitation (VR): The biggest one most people have never heard of. State-federal
program covering tuition, books, assistive tech, transportation, sometimes more. Apply BEFORE you start college, it's income-sensitive and has waitlists. Search "[your state] Vocational Rehabilitation."
SSDI Student Exception: If you're on SSDI, college can affect your benefits in surprising ways. Look into the Student Earned Income Exclusion and the Plan to Achieve Self-Support (PASS) before you take a campus job.
Campus Disability Fund: A lot of universities have emergency funds for disabled students, for medical costs, assistive tech, or when something goes catastrophically wrong. Ask disability services. These are wildly underused.
Disability-Specific Orgs: Almost every major disability has an org with scholarships: National MS Society, Epilepsy Foundation, Autism Society, AAPD, NDEC. Search your condition + "scholarship." Smaller pots, less competition.
Campus Accessibility: Get the actual accessibility map, not the brochure version. Mark accessible entrances, working elevators, accessible bathrooms, quiet spaces. Scout rest spots: the disability resource lounge, library low-stim rooms, the certain couch nobody knows about. Ask about winter access before winter, does facilities clear accessible routes when it snows? What to do when they inevitably don’t? Walk your route to and from classes before they start! If you rely on elevators or push buttons, always give yourself an extra 10 minutes of transport time.
Housing Accommodations: Housing has a separate process from academic accommodations, and often a separate deadline, usually Residential Life with documentation through Disability Services. Apply EARLY. Like, before the general housing lottery early. Schools use limited accessible housing as a reason to deny late requests.
Stuff you can usually ask for: single room, accessible room, first floor or elevator access, A/C, fridge for meds, space for a PCA, quiet floor, ESA or service animal, proximity to accessible parking or the health center, flexible dining hours or meal plan mods.
Telling Professors: You are not legally required to tell any professor your diagnosis. Ever. You're only required to give them your accommodation letter. What happens around that letter is up to you. Disability services generates letters each semester. Getting them to professors is on you, most schools want this in week one. Email is fine. Attach the PDF. Ask for confirmation of receipt. You don't have to explain anything, you can just say: "Please see attached accommodation letter from Disability Services. Let me know if you have any questions."
If a Professor Pushes Back: If a professor refuses your accommodations or starts a thing about how back in their day nobody needed extensions do not fight that battle alone. Loop in disability services. They are legally on the hook for compliance, not you. Keep everything in writing. Escalate to the Dean of Students or ADA/504 Coordinator (every college has one). You are not being dramatic. You are using the legal remedy the law gives you.
When You Need Legal Support
Most accommodation issues get worked out at disability services. But sometimes colleges fail disabled students badly. When that happens, you have real options that don't require a lawyer or a retainer.
Disability Services - request a formal review in writing
ADA/504 Coordinator (every college has one, by law)
Dean of Students or Ombudsperson
Your college's Grievance Procedure (required under Section 504)
OCR at the U.S. Dept. of Education - its free, online, no lawyer needed
Your state's Protection & Advocacy (P&A) - federally funded free legal advocacy
NDRN or Disability Rights Advocates for org-level help
Disability rights attorneys often do free consultations
Document Everything: Every accommodation letter. Every email. After verbal conversations with disability services, follow up with an email summarizing what was discussed. Email is better than phone calls when stakes are high. Dates on everything. You'll probably never need this paper trail. If you do, you'll be grateful you kept it.
Give Yourself the first semester: The first semester is rough, new schedule, new bed, new rules, new everything. Chronic stuff flares during big transitions. Do not commit to four clubs in week one. Don’t take any heavy classes. It gets better, as you adjust, learn your limits, and build supports. You can gradually take on more commitments.
Asking for Accomidations: When you first register with your school’s disability office, ask for every accommodation that might apply including the ones you "probably won't need." Approved ones you don't use cost nothing. Ones you didn't ask for and suddenly need in October are way harder mid-crisis. Extended time, notetaker, flexible attendance, alt formats, reduced-distraction testing, lecture recording, priority registration, temporary flare accommodations, housing. Put it all on the list. Better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it
Emailing Professors: If you are going to miss a class or need an extension, you should email your professor as soon as you are able. It is really helpful toCreate copy-and-paste templates ahead of time, that way, you can just fill in the blanks for each professor and situation as needed. This takes a lot of pressure off when you are going through a flare.
Required Reading: If you are someone who benefits from audio or digital books, get Yourself a library card, don’t just use your school’s library. Many Libraries have free services through apps like Libby, Hoopla, and PressReader which may have your textbooks for free in digital and audio formats!
Independent Living Center (CIL): Federally funded, community-based orgs run by disabled people, for disabled people. Every state has them. Free peer support, advocacy, skills training, and help navigating housing, benefits, and transportation. Cross-disability, no diagnosis gatekeeping. Not charity for you they are your people. Find yours at ilru.org or Google "[your city] Center for Independent Living." They can connect you with just about every resource in your area!
988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: Call or text 988. 24/7, free, confidential. There is also a Veterans Crisis option (press 1) and an LGBTQ+ youth option (press 3).
Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741. If talking isn't an option, text is. Free, 24/7, and the counselors are trained, not bots.
Job Accommodation Network (JAN): askjan.org: free one-on-one help figuring out what accommodations to request at work.
Vocational Rehabilitation: Search "[your state] vocational rehabilitation." Apply early. Tuition, assistive tech, job training etc.
National Disability Rights: Network ndrn.org - find your state's P&A organization. Federally funded free legal advocacy. Yes, free.
Dept. of Education OCR: File a free disability discrimination complaint against any college that takes federal money (essentially all of them).
Other Disabled Students: Start a group chat. Find or create a student union. Community is what makes all this survivable.
Campus Disability Services, ADA Coordinator, Counsiling Center, Local CIL, Preferred Crisis Line, Pharmacy, Case Manager, PCP, One person on campus I can call, and One person off campus I can call.
The Field Map: When & How To Do What
12 - 18 Months Before: Start the Medical Transition Gather documentation. Get summary letters from current providers. Figure out the insurance situation. Ask about 90-day prescription supplies. While applying, check each school's disability services page, it tells you a lot. When visiting a school ask about quiet spaces and student organizations. Disability student unions are usually a good sign. Consider campus size and the condition of walk ways, especially if you have limited mobility.
6-12 Months Before: Register With Disability Services & Housing. Reach out to the disability office before you arrive. Many allow early registration, do it. You'll want to get accommodations squared away ASAP, they may push back against certain requests and you’ll want time to appeal and fight it if necessary. Housing accommodation deadlines can be as early as April for fall enrollment. Don't wait for the summer checklist email.
3-6 Months Before: Build Your Binder & Line Up Providers. Finish the medical binder. Use your insurance directory to find in-network providers near campus. Book transition appointments. Request records transfers in writing. Confirm everything was sent, Medical offices are chaotic.
Week Before/First Week: Send Letters & Scout Campus. Email accommodation letters to every professor. Go to disability services and put faces to names, they remember the students who show up. Find the accessible bathroom, quiet room, good couch, health center. Make sure you can get into all your classes.
First Month: Appointments & Community: Get first appointments with new providers on the books. Register with the counseling center even if you're "fine right now." Find a disability student org. Identify one person you could text at 2am.
Each Semester: Renew, Reassess, Expand. Accommodation letters do not auto-renew. Send them out again. Check whether what you have still matches what you need, bodies change, courses change, so should the list. Revisit your mental health plan. Drink water.
Imagine your future - not imagined futures
There's a long tradition in disability thinking about utopia, the "imagined futures" where disabled people’s lives are marked by tragedy, where our futures may only exist in our imagination, where the future has no place for us in it.
But your future is not hypothetical. It's the one you will actually live in. Your graduation walk. Your apartment lease. Your first real paycheck. The community you will find and build. A Tuesday afternoon ten years from now, in a life you built. That future isn't imagined. It’s bright and it's coming. Picture it specifically. That image is yours to hold onto when the semester is hard.
Somewhere along the way we got told to be grateful for the minimum. A plywood ramp tacked on thirty years after the building. A professor who "made an exception this one time." You don't owe anyone that gratitude. Gratitude for crumbs is how systems keep feeding you crumbs.
Build the door you actually need.
Bring the others through with you.
The people from page two, Ed Roberts, Judy Heumann, Brad Lomax, Kitty Cone, Patty Berne, Stacey Park Milbern, Jennifer Keelan, and the thousands whose names we'll never know, didn't get arrested, didn't sit on cold federal floors for 25 days, didn't drag themselves up the Capitol steps so that we could imagine. They did it so we could have. A future. A life. A Tuesday afternoon. So when you email your accommodation letter, walk into disability services, file the OCR complaint, take a nap, rest without apology, you are not just surviving college. You are spending currency they won for you. You are keeping those rights alive. You are compounding them for whoever comes next.
Your future isn't a collective fantasy. It's your actual life. Go live it, and leave the door propped open behind you.
Made with love and stubbornness for disabled students everywhere.
Copy this. Fold it. Hand it to someone. Cross out what doesn't fit. Write in what does.
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