Navigating the academy in the absence of graduate disability accommodation policies

University accommodation policies and departmental practices often overlook engineering graduate students with disabilities. The failure of policies and programs to consider graduate students with disabilities is reflected by the dearth in the literature pertaining to them. Responding to this gap in knowledge, I conduct an exploratory qualitative study. I explore the experiences of two engineering graduate students who identify as having invisible disabilities or different abilities. Using a dialogic serial interview process, the participants and I co-develop a rich-vivid phenomenology. I include a portion of the findings in this manuscript. Specifically, I focus on the participant's experiences with accommodation policies and practices while navigating their graduate programs. I discuss the findings as they relate to concepts in literature and my own auto-ethnographic experience. I also provide researchers, students, faculty, staff, and policymakers in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) academia with recommendations. Finally, I present the research community with areas for further academic study.