Disclosing the Undisclosed? Perceptions of Dutch Higher Education Students on Disclosing their Disabilities

Research has shown that students with disabilities who do use accommodations are more successful in terms of final degree classification compared to those who do not. However, in Dutch universities, access to accommodations must be requested at different levels, meaning that disclosure of ones' disability is inevitable. The official numbers of Dutch students with disabilities registered differ greatly from self-stated numbers (9.4% vs 30%) (Steenkamp, 2015; Van den Broek et al., 2013). This implies that not all students disclose their disabilities at university. Little is known about how and why students choose (not) to disclose their disabilities. This paper describes the results of a qualitative cross-disability study regarding the disclosure strategies of students in higher education by reporting how Dutch university students deal with the disclosure of their disabilities to the university, teachers, and fellow students.