Mentor: Monica Schneider, Ph.D.

This project explores how college students perceive Americans with Disabilities Act accommodations given to their disabled peers. Specifically, I use an experimental design to investigate judgment about accommodations based on disability type—physical (blindness) and psychiatric (depression) -- compared to a control condition of unspecified disability. Drawing on research suggesting there are societal biases against mental health disabilities (Dolmage, 2017), I hypothesize that students will be less supportive of accommodations for psychiatric (invisible) disabilities compared to physical disabilities or the control. Additionally, I will measure students’ tolerance for administrative burdens—i.e., the extent to which they believe disabled students should bear costs for accessing accommodations. My research will be the first to apply an administrative burden tolerance scale in the context of disability in higher education. This study has significant implications for understanding ableism on campus, the barriers disabled students face beyond legal compliance, and how students' biases might influence professors’ willingness to accommodate. Ultimately, the project contributes to both educational equity and political science by examining support for a crucial piece of civil rights legislation, the ADA.

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