"The Atlantic recently ran an article, Accommodation Nation, on this issue. Their research found that at schools such as Brown and Harvard, more than 20 percent of undergraduates are registered as disabled. At Stanford, that figure is 38 percent of undergraduates. Meanwhile, at the University of Chicago, the number of students with accommodations has more than tripled over the past eight years, and at UC Berkeley, it has nearly quintupled over the past 15 years."
"This raises major questions on equity, when in law school finals, for example, time is of the essence. Four-hour exams suddenly morph into eight-hour marathons. For hard-driving competitive students who put "winning" above all else, falsified accommodations requests essentially score them a major advantage in this setting. In an exam where more time equals more opportunity to spot problems, this can lead to a skewed class curve if students unfairly use accommodation to win a major advantage."
A long-term therapy client navigated 1L law school final exams amid concerns about accommodation misuse. Students sometimes exaggerate minor life stressors to qualify for testing accommodations, frequently requesting extra time. Elite universities report sharp rises in registered disabilities and accommodation rates, with figures exceeding 20 percent at some schools and reaching 38 percent at Stanford. Extended extra time can transform four-hour exams into eight-hour marathons, giving unfair advantages to competitive students and risking skewed grading curves. Protecting students with legitimate needs requires acknowledging system misuse and developing human-centered support strategies that avoid defaulting to extra time.
Read at Psychology Today
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