Barriers to Accommodations for Students with Disabilities in Higher Education: A Literature Review

In higher education, students with disabilities play an active role in securing and utilizing academic accommodations. Numerous studies have explored different aspects of the accommodations provision process and have addressed various barriers found to prevent the full implementation of these accommodations for students with disabilities. The present review explored these studies, in an attempt to discern common themes within this area of the literature. The review identified several themes that emerged across 23 empirical research studies. Barriers to accommodations were found in the lack of student knowledge or awareness of campus resources, the inability to provide appropriate documentation of a disability or receive accommodations students found useful, and the negative reactions of peers and faculty members that students experienced upon their disclosure of a disability or their request to implement accommodations. The review concludes by addressing the limitations of the study, offering recommendations for future research, and identifying ways in which disability resource offices may work to remove or reduce the impact of the barriers identified. Upon consideration of the breadth and depth of barriers to accommodations found in the literature, a shift towards Universal Design for Learning is presented as one potential way to mitigate these barriers.