16 College Tips for Students of All Differences as Told by a College Alumnus, Advisory Board Member, and Special Education Teacher
[Image Description: I am smiling and standing on gray concrete ground with "Bucks County Community College" and its logo engraved into a wall. I am wearing a white t-shirt that says "NOT ALL DISABILITIES ARE VISIBLE" in center-aligned dark green bubble letters at the top and bottom of a graphic design of a ghost surrounded by daisies in a light green square. I am also wearing a cream-colored skort, gold sandals, silver and gold Alex and Ani bangle bracelets, and a white and tan striped headband with my shoulder-length, curly, dark brown hair down.]
CONTENT WARNING: I would like to mention that I am not a college advisor nor professor, high school guidance counselor, psychologist, therapist, or lawyer. All content posted on disability advocate/teacher influencer page is for educational purposes only with no intent to provide any professional services. Social media should never be used as a substitute for mental or medical health care nor legal advice. If you have any questions or concerns about college life as a person in the disability community, I recommend seeking help from an advisor or Accessibility Office employee at the college or university that you are interested in attending or are already enrolled in or your guidance counselor if you are a high school student. If you suspect that you or your adult child is experiencing academic, mental, or medical health concerns while in college, I highly recommend seeking help from a therapist, psychologist, and/or other mental health professional who is qualified to do so. If you suspect that your or your adult child's legal student rights are being violated, I highly recommend seeking help from a lawyer, advocate, and/or education system regulator who is qualified to do so.
I have been a guest speaker at my alma mater Bucks County Community College Newtown campus' An Autism College Innovation for Educational and Vocational Excellence (AACHIEVE) program orientation for the past six years. I have also made been an AACHIEVE advisory board member for the past six years. Bucks County Community College's AACHIEVE is a transition program for college students in the autism (spectrum) community who are transitioning from high school to college. In honor of back-to-school season, I decided to upload this year's speech that I gave to AACHIEVE's parents every year as a blog post (with some minor edits for clarity and elaboration). The content in this speech applies to parents of college students of all differences.
My name is Emily. I am twenty-eight years old and a Class of 2021 alumnus from Bucks County Community College with my Associate's Degree in Early Childhood Education. I am also a Class of 2024 alumnus from Bryn Athyn College with my dual Bachelor's Degree in Early Childhood and Special Education. I have Pennsylvania teacher certifications in Early Childhood Education PreK-4 and Special Education PreK-12, a Child Development Associate (CDA) certification, and Nonviolent Crisis Intervention Third Edition training through the Crisis Prevention Institute (CPI). I have fourteen years of volunteer experience and advocacy work. I am going into my ninth year of teaching as a Long-Term Substitute Teacher in K-2 Low Incidence Autistic Support at Jamison Elementary School in Central Bucks School District. I have a stutter, drive and own a car, and have a disability advocate social media influencer page.
I do not want anyone to feel sorry for me. Disabilities are not problems and nothing to be ashamed of. Disabilities do not make me or your child any less of a person. The stigma attached to disabilities is the problem and that stigma needs to be broken. It is okay to be different. Take pride in your disabilities. I do not want to know the person I would be if I was not disabled. Being disabled has made me a better teacher, advocate, and person. Being disabled has helped me know how to create a safe space for my students and other people to feel comfortable opening up, showing their imperfections, breaking through barriers, building confidence, and being grounded in the present.
Before I was a student at Bucks County Community College, I was discriminated against for my disability at a university. The university said that they would accommodate me; however, they were not as accepting as they promised (skip to #3 to read the details that I feel comfortable sharing about what happened). That was why I transferred to Bucks County Community College. Bucks County Community College is well-known for having plenty of professors who are flexible, cooperative, and open-minded when it comes to following of the accommodations of students in the disability community most of the time. Bucks County Community College's professors are also notable for answering any students' questions and concerns to the best of their ability and meeting one-on-one if requested. Here are some tips for accommodations and navigating other college situations as any college student's parent below:
1. Find out your legal rights for parental involvement in your college life.
I highly encourage college students to let their family members who they have healthy relationships with get involved in their college lives while also working on building independence. The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) is a federal law that provides parents/guardians the legal right to be involved in their adult child's college life with the student's consent. I will speak freely that it has been my experience that not all but many college professors and advisors tend to give pushback about letting families be involved in their adult children's college lives. Unfortunately, sometimes this still happens when the student provides legal consent. College professionals will say, "By law, it is the student's decision to let their parents/guardians be involved in their college life because they are an adult," which is valid. Yet, sometimes when the college student makes the adult decision to let their parents/guardians be involved in their college life as legally protected by FERPA, not all but many college professors and advisors will challenge this choice that the student makes by saying, "They need to advocate for themselves", "The student does not need their parents/guardians' involvement", or "We only let parents/guardians get involved in students' college lives here unless there is an emergency" after saying "By law, it is the student's decision"; however, by the adult student choosing to let their parents/guardians be involved in their college life, they ARE advocating for themselves and challenging this decision violates this legal right. It is illegal, which means there IS an emergency.
Again, FERPA is a law and following any laws is always required and never a choice, suggestion, or optional for anyone who works in PreK-12 schools, colleges, and universities to follow or not. Student rights are human rights that everyone is required to follow at all times just like any law. Violating laws can result in serious legal consequences, and no one should ever assume that these consequences will not happen. No one can coerce the student to let or not let any family members be involved in their college lives. It is not anyone's place except the student to make this decision legally protected by FERPA. Not any professors. Not any Teaching Assistants (TA). Not any advisors. Not the Dean. Not the President or Vice President. Not the director or assistant director of your college or university's Accessibility Office, Office Disability Resources, or Office Disability Services. Not any tutors. Not any mentors. Not any test proctors. Not any committee. Not the financial aid office. Not any family members while you should also consider family members' perspectives about pro-involvement by signing your legal consent to their involvement to be prepared in the long run (just in case) in the event that issues like these do arise.
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[Image Description: The graphic is light green with my First Former Buddy Club President logo in the bottom left corner. "KEY words = student's choice" is in center-aligned dark green text. There is a key emoji on both sides of "KEY word."]
Students of all differences may face productive conversations and difficulties with effective communication with authority figures in college. To elaborate, people whose disabilities affect their social-emotional skills tend to struggle with their communication skills more than other people. Their difficulties with communication can show up as knowing what to say while being intimidated to say it (causing them to go into the freeze or fawn response) or struggling to put what they want to say into words. Moreover, "further research in Translational Psychiatry indicates that autistic adults with social anxiety tend to show more compliant social behaviors and possess larger amygdalas compared to those without social anxiety. Because the two conditions can look so similar on the surface, 'social anxiety can be missed or mischaracterized,' explained lead author Yu (Hannah) Hao, a professor of psychology at Ningbo University who conducted the research alongside Daniela Schiller at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Prior work covered by PsyPost in 2023 indicated that autistic individuals tend to have an atypically sensitive threat-processing system involving the amygdala when looking at faces" (PsyPost 2026). While some college students truly do want to opt out of their parent/guardian's involvement, some college students may want their parent/guardian's involvement but will only say that they do not want it if they go into the fawn response. Their slow processing speed can cause struggles with appropriately thinking and reacting quickly (also known as "thinking on their feet") to people's statements in sticky situations that were unpredictable for them causing the fight, flight, freeze, or fawn response. Not all but some authority figures can be dismissive of the needs of students of all differences instead of providing necessary support. By the same token, not all but some authority figures may also show arrogance by having the misconception that people of all differences disagreeing with them is defiance or disrespect. They may believe that the student is challenging their authority if they do not like to have their authority challenged. This can result in an imbalance of power that makes it difficult to deal with an uncooperative authority figure.
[Image Description: The graphic is light blue with my First Former Buddy Club President logo in the bottom left corner. "KEY word = additional support" is in center-aligned dark blue text with a female student emoji, plus sign emoji, family emoji of two men and a girl, another plus sign emoji, man with a dark skin tone teacher emoji, equals sign emoji, and revolving hearts emoji (left to right) above. There is a key emoji on both sides of "KEY word."]
While independence is absolutely a very needed life skill, college is very hard for everyone especially in the first years. Overall, parents/guardians are experienced and some of them graduated college as well. So, since college students and their parents/guardians are used to and know each other more, parents/guardians may know how to be supportive in addition to the people at school. In fact, plenty of research studies have shown that the prefrontal cortex of the brain, which is responsible for working memory, problem, solving, decision making, planning, reasoning, personality expression, impulse control, emotion regulation, moral behavior, and anticipating and adjusting to events in the environment does not develop until twenty-five years old. So, parents/guardians can give guidance for learning and applying that independence as well since college students are still growing and learning to use these skills in the beginning stages of adulthood. As a matter of fact, adults in the disability community who struggle with slow processing speed may take longer to learn these adulting skills.
Additionally, while it is important to presume competence first in students of all differences, it is worth mentioning that people in the disability community do not have easy lives. Their disability-related challenges frequently wax and wane meaning a repetitive cycle of struggles and strengths climaxing with falling actions off and on with unpredictable occurrences. As it happens, IQ, which is short for Intelligence Quotient, plays a major role in these episodes since IQ can go up and down by fifteen points or more, especially during childhood and adolescence or due to specific life events. It is okay for any adults to ask for help to continuously grow their independence even when they are older than twenty-five years old. Help does not make anyone weak. My thirty-year-old academically gifted brother and I who are very independent still ask our parents for their opinions about many things. It is important to have a support system in and outside of school, work, and home. To quote the American poet named Alexandra Elle, "People can be independent and still need help."
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[Image Description: The graphic is light purple with my First Former Buddy Club President logo in the bottom left corner. "You can be independent and still need help." is in left-aligned violet text with "-Alex Elle" in enlarged left-aligned dark purple text.]
According to Edutopia, "Involving families strengthens the connection between home and school providing students with the consistency and encouragement they need to thrive" (Sewell 2025). So, sometimes students of all differences benefit from additional support from an adult that they are used to when growing their self-advocacy skills and that is okay even though some people cannot handle these truths and lack compassion. Sadly, those people are out there. Some people do not want to face the facts. I understand that many college students do not want to consent to their parents/guardians' involvement because of independence, which is a crucial developmental area of adulthood; however, college students of all differences should sign their legal consent to let their families who they have healthy relationships with be involved in their college lives to be prepared and plan ahead of time in the event that concerns like these arise. Nothing happens until it does.
Ultimately, if you are student reading this and your college or university ever tries to remove access to this FERPA right of yours, notify your parent/guardian immediately and continue to let them stay involved. Report the issue to your or your adult child's program's Dean immediately and contact a lawyer or advocate if you believe you need to. Involving a parent/guardian who you have a healthy relationship with, a lawyer, or advocate is called representation and modeling advocacy skills. Moreover, do not listen to being told, "But employees cannot bring their parents to work" because college and work are two different things. Even though college prepares adults for the workplace, college and work are still two things with different standards and laws. Everyone who works in PreK-12, colleges, and universities are legally and ethically responsible to follow FERPA.
My parents and I were very distraught about what the school where I previously attended before Bucks put me through. I was also a very busy full-time student who worked part-time at the moment. I tease my mom that she is like my secretary. This was followed by my mother reaching out to Bucks County Community College to speak to someone from the program that my major is for. Coincidentally, my mother was connected to a professor who is actually a well-known professional in the Special Education field. My mother was crying when talking on the phone to this professor. This professor was very supportive and validating of my mother's additional support with my legal consent. This professor who is an AACHIEVE advisory board member still remembers this phone call and meeting my mom and I in person shortly after when I retell this story in my motivational speech at AACHIEVE's orientation every August. My parents have always been very supportive of both my and my brother's school lives. I recall most of my professors and advisors at Bucks County Community College and my parents being very supportive when I chose to handle school situations independently or involve my parents' additional support in my college life.
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2. The process of requesting and being approved for accommodations in college
When requesting accommodations at any college or university, students in the disability community need to contact their school's Accessibility Office also known as the Office of Disability Resources (ODR) or Office of Disability Services (ODS). That's right. You read that right. The Accessibility Office will not contact the parent or the student like school districts' Special Education offices do in K-12 education. The student needs to contact them because of federal laws for adult students. You also read that right about the student needing the request and be approved for accommodations, which can be lots of hoop jumping (completing an overly complicated, difficult, and unnecessary series of tasks to achieve a goal). Did I also mention that accommodations need to be renewed every semester, which is also super annoying hoop jumping? 🤯
College students in the disability community have the legal right to request accommodations at any time in the school year; however, I recommend requesting accommodations at least two weeks or more before the semester starts. This is because Accessibility Offices usually receive a high volume of emails all year round, especially at the beginning of the school year and beginning of semesters and requests for accommodations can take a while to read since the documentations are usually several pages long. So, they usually take a while to respond as quickly as possible. If your adult child does not hear back from the Accessibility Office after two weeks have passed, tell them to email and call the Accessibility Office and stay on the phone call with them!!! Stay on hold as much as you can and if you cannot get through for some reason keep calling after 3-5 tries. Communicate ahead of time to your adult child to state, "I am consenting to have my parent on this phone call for additional support" when they are able to get ahold of someone who works in their school's Accessibility Office. Students can also schedule appointments with their school's Accessibility Office to learn more about accommodations requests and approvals and any questions or concerns that they have. And yes, students can bring their parent as long as the student consents to doing so. Students in the disability community will be asked for a copy of their most previous Individualized Education Program (IEP) or 504 Plan and evaluation. Guide your adult child in making sure that their most recent evaluation report is up to date. Typically, evaluation reports need to be renewed every three years. If the evaluation report has expired, they will need be reevaluated by a psychologist that you and/or your adult child will need to search for on your/their own. After the student's accommodations are approved, a letter with their accommodations in writing will be sent to their school email. Students will need to give this letter to each professor who they want to know about their accommodations. Students should provide a hard copy of this letter to their professors AND send it to them via email to create a paper trail that prevents any professors from stating that they never received it. There are many students who want to opt out of accommodations in college. While it the college student's decision to opt out of or opt in for accommodations according to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), I recommend college students in the disability community request an accommodations letter anyway. This is because having an accommodations letter can be helpful as a backup plan just in case something happens or the student changes their mind to disclose at any time.
3. Make sure professors and advisors maintain respect for college students' confidentiality.
This letter contains confidential information; therefore, professors are required to read it privately either alone or one-on-one with only the student present and/or someone from the Accessibility Office that the student consents to being present. That being said professors are prohibited from reading this letter in front of any students' peers and doing so would be a confidentiality violation. When I was a student at the university before I was a student at Bucks County Community College, I gave an updated accommodations letter to one of my professors after class. My classmates were standing around this professor asking questions her after class and she read aloud my accommodations letter in front of them, which was a major violation of my student rights, autonomy, and dignity. All of my classmates in my program - many of whom were Special Education majors and supposed to be Christians🧐 - treated me like I was contagious after this. To elaborate, we were more of acquaintances than friends before this, which was absolutely fine, but what I mean by them treating me like I was contagious is that they would move their seats when they saw me sitting at a nearby table in the cafeteria. They got super awkward whenever we were assigned to complete partner or group projects, or in-class assignments together. Some of them would even avoid going on the same elevator as me and I would hear them whispering about me when they saw me. In fact, eventually, I came to realize that not all but most people in my program at this university were close friends and some my classmates from other Early Childhood Education classes who were not presently in this class that this professor taught were treating me the same. So, I put two and two together that my classmates who the professor read my accommodations letter in front of talked about it to one another. What I found to be especially bizarre about their discrimination was that it was clear that they did not for sure what my specific disability is because I have an invisible disability and the professor nor I ever disclosed that information to them. In fact, all of my accommodations as a person who stutters were Universally Designed for Learning (UDL) for college students with and without multiple types of other disabilities as well.
Related Links:
- I explain how my stutter shows up as an invisible disability in this blog post that I wrote a few months ago - Facing Imposter Syndrome as a Public Speaker with an Invisible Disability
Furthermore, it probably will not surprise you that this same professor falsely accused me of violating my own accommodations and not following rubrics, intentionally failed me in her class, and infantilized me in class lectures all due to discrimination. This professor would also do that thing to me where not all but some professors or teachers tell a student that they answered a discussion question incorrect, but then, tell the next student who says the same thing that they call on that they got the answer. For example, it could be, "What are our school colors?" If I said, "Blue and white", the professor would say that I was incorrect, but when the next student she called on would also say, "Blue and white", she would say that they were correct. To be fair, yes, I could be incorrect about this professor doing this to me as part of discriminating against me; however, I am pretty sure she was gaslighting me because this same scenario happened pretty frequently when I correctly answered several different discussion questions. In fact, eventually, this professor stopped calling on me and would make an awkward facial expression when she saw my hand raised. I would have continued to have this professor for future classes if I stayed and there were other professors at this university who similarly discriminated against me as well.
The university's Dean of the Department of Education, my advisor, President, and Vice President showed a lack of support when my parents and I reported all of these issues. I also experienced prolonged severe workplace bullying in this same year. I left that job and did volunteer work for one month until I was ready to get a new job (FYI I got a new job quicker than expected and loved it). My parents supported this decision and presumed competence in me; however, my mother worried that she would not be able to motivate me to go back to school and work again. Meanwhile, my father thought otherwise. My father believed that I would be resilient and determined to continue because I have been experiencing these same issues my whole life. I have run into obstacles before and gotten through it by talking it out and what not. I would persevere by just keep going because I wanted I wanted. I knew that sometimes that these situations are not so much failure but bumps in the road. I have always known that I need to overcome the obstacles and quitting was never in my favor. I knew that success is not always in a straight line. I told myself, "I can and I will" every day. This rocky start in my college education resulted in me transferring to Bucks County Community College and it made all of the difference.
In addition, all college students have confidentiality rights regardless of whether they disclose accommodations, disabilities, or not. One of my family members decided to attend college as a full-time student when he was nineteen years old in a September of the 1980s. He made this decision upon having the negative inner thought that he was "dumb." He had a lack of motivation and no guidance from his parents due to several complex traumas that were mostly no one's fault occurring in the household. He had been considering going to college because he wanted more of an education and carpooled with a classmate who lived nearby. He attended as a full-time student and took four math courses which were public speaking, algebra, remedial reading, and psychology. He dropped the psychology course after one session because he was too shy to speak in front of the whole class. A professor asked my family member, "When are you going to drop my math course?" in front of the whole class. My family member says that he remembers his classmates laughed when they heard the professor say this to him. My family describes feeling embarrassed and belittled and says that he never reported the incident to anyone.
It is also worth mentioning that this professor taught the remedial course that my family member was enrolled in. The students were required to read Psycho-Cybernetics written by Maxwell Maltz, MD, FICS, which is a self-help book about having a positive self-image for uncoincidental reasons. This requirement was either the professor's idea or part of the remedial course curriculum. Nevertheless, the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, specifically Section 504, was an active federal law at the time. Section 504 requires colleges and universities that take federal funding to offer equal access and reasonable accommodations and prohibits discrimination against students in the disability community. So, history's limited amount of knowledge about educational pedagogy at the time when this professor was teaching my family member is the least part that concerns me. This professor regardless of their educational background knew the population of students required to enroll in remedial courses includes students in the disability community and unmet academic and developmental needs when they agreed to teach the class. They knew that my family member was in that class for a reason whether my family member disclosed or had their undiagnosed mental disabilities and childhood trauma that impacted their adulthood or not. So, this professor should have known better. Unfortunately, my family member dropped out after only one semester because he did not have any support. Although he wishes that he would have continued college, he worked paid jobs instead for many years and eventually worked his way up to employment in long-term management positions.
4. Students should communicate any specific diagnosed disabilities to their professors.
I highly encourage college students to communicate what their specific diagnosed disabilities are to their professors. I will be honest that the Accessibility Office at any college or university does not communicate to professors what specific diagnosed disabilities any students with accommodations have. The Accessibility Office only communicates which approved accommodations that individual students need through their accommodations letter. Choosing to disclose or not is of course a decision that only the individual students can make as legally protected by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and FERPA. This same legal policy applies to workplaces with fifteen or more employees in the United States of America as well. Choosing to disclose or not disclose to employers is a decision that only employees can make since not all workplaces are safe spaces to disclose unfortunately and people need jobs. In fact, not all employees need to disclose their disabilities if their disabilities do not impede their abilities to perform essential functions with and without reasonable accommodations. Disclosing specific diagnosed disabilities may be helpful so that professors can understand individual students' struggles better, know how to provide differentiated instructions to them, and work out possible additional solutions together.
5. Extra time for tests and a reduced distraction testing environment as academic accommodations
Typically, colleges and universities have a testing center for any of their students in the disability community who receive extra time on tests and/or a reduced distraction testing environment as academic accommodations. Bucks County Community College's Testing Center is a soundproofed room supervised by surveillance cameras and in person proctors. Bucks County Community College's Testing Center is open to in-person students with these academic accommodations and online students with and without these academic accommodations who are required to take tests in person for certain classes to reduce cheating as well. Talking is not allowed at all in most testing centers to fulfill a reduced distraction environment for all college students. Many testing centers have separate rooms with proctor supervision behind a glass window, which may be helpful for students who prefer to read tests aloud and/or avoid visual/auditory nonverbal distractions. Find out first if test takers are allowed to read tests aloud during in person/virtual supervised tests even if you are placed in a separate room as your reduced distraction environment. Some testing centers and companies prohibit test takers with and without accommodations from reading their tests aloud. Unfortunately, this is because of the sneaky technology that people use to cheat on tests these days. Sometimes they prohibit this even after doing a body and/or virtual room check for cheating devices and strategies. No one ever knows for sure which strangers are telling the truth or not and who will ruin it for other innocent people.
Besides testing centers, some colleges and universities provide access for students who receive extra time as an academic accommodation to take their test in the classroom with the rest of their classmates. In fact, some professors will provide unlimited extra time and required reduced distraction testing environment to all students in the class.
6. Extra time for homework assignments and projects as academic accommodations
Typically, Accessibility Offices at colleges and universities will only approve extra time for homework assignments and projects as academic accommodations for students with anxiety disorders; however, some professors will provide extra time for homework assignments and projects to students in and outside of the disability community upon their request. In fact, some professors will not take off points if the assignment is submitted late by only a few minutes, days, or less than a week late.
7. The benefits of taking chunked tests
Chunked tests can be helpful for students who struggle with paying attention, slow processing speed, working memory, and/or anxiety. Autistic students/students with autism/students on the autism spectrum and students with Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), learning disabilities, and anxiety disorders tend to take a really long time to understand and remember large amounts of information. So, chunking can relieve their stress of understanding and remembering large amounts of information in a short period of time. I took a math course in my last semester at Bucks County Community College and higher-level math has always been a challenge for me. The tests had a total of forty-four or more math problems for several higher-level math concepts to complete! My parents and I thought how can anyone possibly recall all of the steps to solve forty-four higher level math problems for a test without being allowed to have access to their notes?! Luckily, my professor offered the option of taking chunked tests to all students enrolled in the class. So, I would take the first half of my test one day and the rest of the test on another day.
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8. The benefits of using a calculator as an academic accommodation in math courses
Not only but many Accessibility Offices will only approve utilization of calculators as an academic accommodation for students with math learning disabilities. I disagree with this because students with and without other disabilities that affect their learning, thinking, and fine motor abilities can benefit from utilizing this assistive technology when checking their work as well. Academically gifted students even make mistakes and need to check their work. Contrary to popular belief, using a calculator while test taking is not cheating because students still need to know which math computations to enter into the calculator. The professor in my first higher level math college course would not let me use a calculator when I requested to do so because I did not have a diagnosis of a math learning disability; so, she decided to provide me with three hours as extra time instead of two hours as the original amount of time allotted. When I was a student at Bryn Athyn College, the professor for my last general education math course required the whole class to calculators for all homework assignments and tests. This was because his philosophy was that all students can benefit from using calculators. It is professors like these that give me hope that college students will pass the subject areas that they struggle in.
9. Audio recording class lectures as an academic accommodation
My mother says that when she was in college, she and many of her classmates of all abilities audio recorded class lectures because the professors spoke really fast. Then, she would listen to the audio recording later and fill in whatever she did not have time write down in her notes. I started doing the same thing in college for the same reason. Additionally, there are many college students in the disability community who benefit from using this type of assistive technology (AT) as an academic accommodation followed by listening to the recording later. Students who struggle with paying attention, poor working memory (WM), fatigue, and time management as part of their disabilities may struggle to copy all of the notes in one class or miss important information without doing so. This disability-related challenge is common among college students with autism, ADHD, intellectual disabilities (ID), Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), learning disabilities, anxiety disorders, and behavior disorders. Furthermore, students who struggle with fine motor skills as part of physical disabilities, such as cerebral palsy (CP), chronic illnesses, or autism, ADHD, IDs, TBI, seizure disorders, or anxiety disorders tend to benefit from this accommodation due to low muscle strength.
10. Typing notes as an academic accommodation
Some professors are against letting students type their notes due to old school opposing views about using electronic devices in education or concern about students surfing the internet during class time. Contrary to popular belief, using a computer or iPad to type notes can be another beneficial UDL AT for college students, especially who are among the disability community. Students who struggle with paying attention, poor WM, fatigue, and time management as part of their disabilities may struggle to handwrite all of their notes in one class and forget important information. Moreover, students who struggle with fine motor challenges as part of autism, ADHD, IDs, CP, or chronic illnesses may quickly exhibit visible or invisible pain in their hands after handwriting for a short period of time.
11. Presentation script written on notecards
Contrary to popular belief, reading a presentation script does not mean that the presenter does not know what they are talking about. The presenter must know what they are talking about when they are the person who wrote the script. In fact, using a script is usually an effective agenda tool to stay on task and shows professional skills. People of all ages in the disability community who struggle with poor WM tend to benefit from utilizing an agenda or list of things to say when communicating with people. This is because they might forget to say important points. Moreover, it has been my experience that utilizing an agenda helps me stay on track since sometimes I stumble on my words and lose my train of thought when I stutter. This is why I refer to my speech on notecards as a UDL accessibility tool when I motivational speak at AACHIEVE orientation every year.
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12. Go to the Tutoring Center if you are struggling in any subject areas.
Typically, college Tutoring Centers provide free sessions for English Composition, Mathematics, Science, History, Effective Speaking, World Languages, or religion courses. Some campuses require scheduled sessions while some allow walk-ins. While many students benefit from tutoring sessions for subject areas that they are struggling in, there are also many students who go to better their study skills and/or clarity in a subject area.
13. Listen to mindfulness meditation music.
I suggest listening to mindfulness meditation music, which is calming music as a study strategy. I listened to mindfulness meditation music while doing homework and studying when I was in college. I still listen to mindfulness meditation music to fall asleep at night since flashbacks of past trauma spontaneously disrupt my circadian rhythm off and on making it hard to fall asleep and go back to sleep. Mindfulness meditation music is free on YouTube with plenty of neurodiversity and trauma-informed versions available. Listening to mindfulness meditation music is an unhelpful distraction for some people. So, I recommend college students and their families to find and use what works for them.
14. Take care of yourself.
Self-care is NOT selfish. Self-care is extremely important to take seriously to protect anyone's mental and physical health, especially suicide risks are on the rise among college students. In fact, suicide is common predominantly among college students in the disability community. To circle back, this is why signing legal consent to parental involvement as FERPA right is trauma informed when it comes to trauma/suicide prevention and addressing what college students identify as traumatic. Everyone has mental health and it is okay for all genders including men to show emotion. Go to your campus' mental health counseling center if you believe this is necessary. College campus counseling centers typically provide free sessions, which will always be confidential. Some campuses require scheduled sessions while some campuses allow walk-ins. No one needs to have any diagnosed mental health condition, struggle with suicidal thoughts, and/or experience trauma to go to counseling. Some people attend counseling to learn how to manage healthy stress or only one to a few sessions. So, college students and their families need to take care of themselves every day.
15. Transfer tips
I also have some tips for college students who want to transfer to another college or university after graduating from or finishing their first two years at community college or decide that the college that they initially attended was not their cup of tea (something they disliked) (And that is a completely valid opinion. Of course, there should always be hope for a smooth transition, but stuff happens).
- Find out and confirm that the school(s) that you are interested in have your major and that their program is a good fit for you. It is okay to switch majors. When I was in college, my parents told my brother and I that if we were decided that we no longer liked our majors and became interested in something else, they would support this decision. Our parents just told us to make sure that we would be able to a plan a future in which we would be to financially support ourselves.
- Go to an open house or two and speak to an advisor.
- Make sure that your credits transfer and match up with alike courses where you are transferring so that you do not need to retake already passed courses.
- Make sure that the courses you were told transfer transferred when you register. Make sure to have a copy of your most recent transcript to compare what the school where you are transferring to has in their system. Even though the school that you are transferring to has your official transcript, it is a good idea to have your own copy to reconcile for this matter. I found some mistakes made in the beginning of my first year at Bryn Athyn College.
16. Keep intersectionality in mind.
Keep in mind that every disability journey and college experience is different. My motto is, "Everyone is going through something that no one knows anything about. So, always be kind." The shirt at the beginning of this blog post says it all (communicates the same message). Not everyone's disabilities, trauma, and other challenges are obvious just by looking at or watching them. Not everyone feels comfortable opening up or has a safe space to do so. Disability is the largest minority group in the world that anyone can join at any time. There are 1.5 billion people in the disability community in the world. So, keep an open mind about who could be disabled, traumatized, and/or struggling in other ways and respond with empathy and compassion.
Key takeaways:
- If you experience pushback to get accommodations approved in college or professors will not follow them, know that you are not alone. These situations can make college harder than necessary and are harmful for mental health. Remain calm and assertively stand up for yourself alongside a family member who you have a healthy relationship with. Make sure that people are doing what they are liable and required to do to meet your legal student rights under ADA and FERPA.
- Be consistent with self-advocating for your reasons for needing any accommodations. Avoid back pedaling (changing your previous statements or concerns) or giving in.
- I want to remind you that you will have bad days just like you have anywhere else. To quote Chinese philosopher, Confucius, "It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop." So, keep trying and reminding yourself about your why. You can do hard things.
- Set realistic goals for yourself, take everything day by day, remember that it is okay not to be okay, and you need to fight through some bad days to get to the best days of your life. Be kind to yourself. To quote the twenty-sixth President of the United States of America, "Believe you can and you're halfway there."
- One day you will thank yourself for never giving up and be proud of how far you came and all of the accomplishments that you will make in the future.
To learn more about Bucks County Community College's AACHIEVE program, click on the link below:
To learn more about how to self-advocate if you are a college student in the disability community and how to provide additional advocacy support for your college student in the disability community, I highly recommend the following books below:
- Navigating College: A Handbook on Self Advocacy written for Autistic students, by Autistic adults brought to you by Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN), and Foreword by ASAN President Ari Ne'eman
- Self-Care for Autistic People: 100+ Ways to Recharge, De-stress, and Unmask! written by Dr. Megan Anna Neff
- The Autistic Burnout Workbook with Guidance on Sensory Self-Care, Masking, Spoon Theory, Nervous System Regulation, and More written by Dr. Megan Anna Neff
- You Will Get Through This: Help for Depression, Anxiety, Grief, and More written by Julie Radico, PsyD, ABPP, Charity O'Reilly, and Nicole Helverson, PsyD
- The Parents' Guide to College for Students on the Autism Spectrum written by Jane Thierfeld Brown Ed.D., Lorraine E. Wolf Ph.D., Lisa King M.Ed., and G. Ruth Kukiela Bork M.Ed. (Even though I am not a parent, I read this book anyway to try grow my understanding about students' families' perspectives as an aspiring Special Education teacher at the time.)
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Citations
1. PsyPost. (27 Aug. 2026). Enlarged amygdala linked to a distinct social anxiety profile in autistic adults. https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/general/enlarged-amygdala-linked-to-a-distinct-social-anxiety-profile-in-autistic-adults/ar-AA2b3jqb?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=DCTS&cvid=9fd5ab12cd504758f55ad8bf8b1e5b01&ei=13
2. Sewell, A. (5 Mar. 2025). Supporting All Students With Special Needs. https://www.edutopia.org/article/supporting-students-special-needs/
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