Students and professors have noted a distinct rise in accommodation requests, services that help students with disabilities, since 2020.

Director for the Office of Accessibility and Resources and Services Doris Pierce said, “More OARS-registered students are requesting accommodations for their classes now more than before the pandemic because they are continuing to be more aware of how their approved accommodations provide equal access to course content.”

Sophomore Emily Temple, a political science and public administration double major, shared their perspective on accommodations post-pandemic.

Temple, who uses they/them pronouns, said, “I have noticed a slight rise in accommodation requests.”

“I think it is simply because the pandemic kind of screwed up a lot of people mentally. When you’re essentially forced to stay inside with the threat of a deadly, transmittable virus looming over you, you’re going to struggle. The issue is whether that struggle persisted once we returned to normal,” they said.

Temple also believes that the pandemic allowed neurodivergent people to come to terms with their neurodivergence and seek necessary accommodations. 

Temple has ADHD, and their accommodations include a note-taker, 1.5 times extended test time and the ability to record lectures.

“Requesting accommodations usually goes pretty smoothly,” they said. “The issue I often run into is that note-takers are student volunteers, and not every class has someone that is willing to post their notes.”

Temple said the Office of Accessibility Resources and Services “was one of the most understanding entities” for their needs. 

“I literally cried after my initial intake meeting because I just felt so validated, something that I did not experience in middle and high school,” they said. 

They said professors are willing to work with them and provide enough resources.

“I have never been mistreated by a professor due to accommodation needs,” Temple said. 

They said they want people to understand that accommodations help them succeed in the classroom to the best of their ability.

“If I have a diagnosed disorder that causes focus problems which I cannot mitigate due to the structural and systemic nature of classrooms, then I should not be put at a disadvantage because of that disorder,” they said. “That in itself is ableism.”

Associate professor of sociology Douglas George said there was an accommodation increase in his classes post-pandemic.

Every semester, George teaches 100 to 150 students in his four classes, 

“I would typically have, and I’m guessing, say four or five [accommodations],” he said. “But last fall, I had 14.”

He said OARS offers students the most resources, compared to instructors. 

“They’re the ones working with people more closely than we are,” George said. “We’re mainly keeping track of who has what, in terms of their grade. … Most everything that happens with them is covered by the offices.”

George’s primary concern is attendance accommodations, which allow students with chronic or episodic disabilities to have a reasonable number of absences, according to uca.edu. 

These students are still required to attend class regularly, participate and complete the course’s objectives as per its syllabus. 

“I wonder if the student is getting an adequate understanding of the problems of missing class,” he said. “I wonder how much training the student is getting.”

George said the “norm of education in high schools” has changed post-pandemic, which has led to a decrease in overall student attendance.

He said students are also receiving more diagnoses, thus requesting more accommodations and prescriptions. 

“When you’re getting new meds for depression,” he said, “That often takes time to figure out the dosage. I think this is throwing more and more students off. Not that they were lazy, just not accustomed,” George said.