Disabled Students Are Worried About Losing Accommodations at School
Katherine Greenstein, a student at American University in Washington, D.C, rather enjoyed taking classes remotely last year. As someone with multiple disabilities and health conditions, including chronic migraines, eosinophilic esophagitis, gastroparesis, and hypermobility, taking classes via Zoom allowed them to do assignments at the doctor’s office, and to attend classes while lying in bed if they were fatigued. As American and many other schools across the country prepare to return to in-person learning in the fall, Greenstein is anxious about going back and feels as though specific requirements for accommodations shouldn’t be necessary while the U.S. is still very much in the midst of the pandemic.
“I’m absolutely terrified,” Greenstein tells Teen Vogue. “I'm scared of students not respecting COVID restrictions. I'm scared of missing classes for appointments or illness and needing weeks to catch up, whereas I could've just done class from home. I'm scared of getting sick even when I do everything I can to prevent it because I'm living alongside thousands of students on campus.”
In a statement to Teen Vogue, an American University spokesperson refers to the “extensive protocols in place to safeguard the well-being of students, faculty, and staff, including a COVID-19 vaccine requirement and indoor mask requirements for all university buildings.” The spokesperson says that the school offers “a selection of classes” online and that students can work with their advisor and the university’s Academic Support and Access Center “to determine the appropriate courses for them.”
Greenstein is one of many young, disabled people who appreciated the accommodations made available to students during the pandemic, such as the ability to take classes remotely and watch recorded lectures at their own pace, and are nervous that a return to in-person classes will make these accommodations disappear.
Gigi Robinson, a recent graduate of the University of Southern California, tells Teen Vogue that participating in in-person classes was often difficult or stressful due to her Ehlers Danlos syndrome and chronic pain. Taking classes via Zoom felt more accessible. “Remote learning was the best thing to happen to me throughout my medical and academic career,” says Robinson. “Flexibility to do homework or presentations anywhere, anytime, to attend class without causing my pain to flare up was such a blessing. And let me be clear: This is something many disabled students have been asking for forever. It wasn’t until everyone needed virtual learning that it was suddenly accessible.”
Aside from the academic flexibility that remote learning provides, many disabled students prefer taking classes online because it lowers the risk of catching COVID on campus. Some disabled people initially faced barriers to receiving the vaccine, like hard-to-access sign-up websites or vaccination sites. Some immunocompromised people who are fully vaccinated have seen low levels of protection, meaning they remain more susceptible to catching the virus, according to a series of papers published in the Journal of the American Medical Association this spring. On August 12, the Federal Drug Association authorized an additional vaccine dosage for certain immunocompromised individuals, a measure that will hopefully make some disabled students feel safer on campus this year.
Lucy Trieshmann, a third-year student at New York University School of Law (NYU), uses a wheelchair, suffers from several autoimmune diseases and a connective tissue disorder, a neurocognitive disorder, chronic pain, and fatigue. She tells Teen Vogue that remote learning significantly improved her school experience, and as NYU prepares to return to all in-person learning in the fall, she is nervous that her grades and health will suffer.
“I’m already stocking up on travel-size disinfectant wipes for my desks, small hand sanitizers, and extra masks,” says Trieshmann. “I plan to double mask, only eat and drink outside, and distance myself as much as possible from other people. Many disabled people have lived in a constant state of fear since the beginning of the pandemic. It’s indescribably painful to watch nondisabled people prioritize their social lives over the health and safety of their communities.”
New York University did not respond to Teen Vogue’s request for comment.
Despite the health and flexibility-related benefits of remote learning, taking classes on Zoom can have social drawbacks for some students, as it’s not as easy to chat with friends in the hall or cafeteria when fully online. But Melissa Shang, a recent graduate of Newton South High School in Massachusetts, says she never had those opportunities to begin with: She was born with Charcot-Marie-Tooth, a degenerative nerve disease that causes the muscles in her arms and legs to atrophy over time and can affect breathing, so many on-campus activities her peers participated in pre-pandemic felt off limits. She couldn’t eat lunch in the halls, for example, because she needed a steady table to set her tray on; while her friends often did homework in the yard after school, she couldn’t sit comfortably on curbs or hills. “More often than not," says Shang, "I felt like an outsider in my own high school.”
But things changed last year. “I could suddenly participate in group activities that were previously inaccessible,” Shang tells Teen Vogue via email. “Hallway lunches became Zoom lunches and outdoor study sessions became Zoom study sessions. Not only was I able to more easily socialize with my friends, but from Zoom chats and Instagram DMs, I found myself making new ones who I had never previously been in the same inaccessible spaces as.”
Though remote learning has made school more accessible for many students with physical disabilities, some neurodivergent students, people with learning disabilities and those who are deaf or hard of hearing, may feel left out. Many have complained that Zoom’s lack of automatic captioning and sign language interpreters have left out deaf and hard of hearing students during remote classes. (In February, Zoom announced it would make live transcriptions of meetings available by fall 2021, and the company is offering automatic closed captioning to meeting hosts in the interim upon request.)
Carley Campbell, a neurodivergent student at Montclair State University, says the switch to remote learning was very difficult for them. “I'm the kind of person who thrives best in a classroom environment, where I have no real distractions and can focus on taking rigorous notes,” Campbell explains. “With remote learning, I feel less and less attached to the materials and am far more likely to indulge in activities like playing video games or cleaning my dorm room rather than paying attention to the subject material. I realized that remote learning was not beneficial for me and my grades suffered. Zoom felt less like a tool to communicate and more like an obligation.”
Ultimately, disabled students just want the same chance as their peers to have a safe and healthy school year. “I'm so scared that we'll go back to the unaccommodating era of ‘come in or catch up’ mentality and capitalist-style productivity quotas,” says Greenstein. “The world is moving on far too quickly from a pandemic that still kills thousands of people every single day. I wish people understood that disabled students need compassion. We are humans, our lives matter, we are people, and we don't deserve to be left behind.”
Want more from Teen Vogue? Check this out: Recorded Lectures Should Remain the Norm After the COVID Pandemic
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Originally Appeared on Teen Vogue
