Experiences of Undergraduate Engineering Students Navigating the Accommodations Process

Background: Students in engineering can have a challenging time navigating the accommodations process. The process can be confusing, long, and frustrating. Additionally, students will have varying kinds of supports and barriers from instructors that can make engineering a welcoming or hostile space, especially for students with disabilities. Purpose: The purpose of this work is to motivate the dismantling of ableism in engineering and understand how engineering students navigate the accommodations process and interact with instructors. Design: Undergraduate engineering students at a public, Midwest, R1 institution were interviewed and given the opportunity to take a survey about their experiences requesting and using accommodations. Results: Students often reported both positive and negative experiences, sometimes even within a single interaction. Specific supports and barriers that contributed to making an experience positive or negative were identified. Supports include kinds of emotional support, instrumental support, esteem support, and instructional support. Barriers include kinds of invalidation, disengagement, denigration, and the withholding of information. Conclusions: Navigating the accommodations process is tenuous. Processes are not always clear to students or faculty, and students also sometimes feel reluctant to start a discussion with instructors about disability and accommodations.