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Cited by 92Disability Education and EmploymentDisability Rights and RepresentationDoctoral Education Challenges and Solutions

Navigating Graduate School with a Disability

Open access
Jain, Dhruv, Potluri, Venkatesh, Sharif, Ather·2020·Proceedings of the 22nd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility
DOI 10.1145/3373625.3416986
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Abstract

In graduate school, people with disabilities use disability accommodations to learn, network, and do research. However, these accommodations, often scheduled ahead of time, may not work in many situations due to uncertainty and spontaneity of the graduate experience. Through a three-person autoethnography, we present a longitudinal account of our graduate school experiences as people with disabilities, highlighting nuances and tensions of situations when our requested accommodations did not work and the use of alternative coping strategies. We use retrospective journals and field notes to reveal the impact of our self-image, relationships, technologies, and infrastructure on our disabled experience. Using post-hoc reflection on our experiences, we then close with discussing personal and situated ways in which peers, faculty members, universities, and technology designers could improve the graduate school experiences of people with disabilities.

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55 of 55 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

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  • Disabled students often take on significant labor to meet their access needs, such as requesting access services, incorporating accommodations into routines, and developing workarounds.

    “Disabled students often take on significant labor to meet their access needs [41, 77], such as spending considerable time and effort requesting access services (e.g., interpreters), incorporating accommodations into their routines (e.g., installing and learning new software), and developing workarounds to address pervasive inaccessibility in technological tools [77].”

    From Access in the Shadow of Ableism: An Autoethnography of a Blind Student's Higher Education Experience in China (2026) · cites this paper as [41]

  • Although requesting accommodations required effort similar to that in the U.S., the process at University B was complicated by nuanced interpersonal dynamics in a context lacking both established support policies and disability awareness.

    “In these instances, although requesting accommodations required effort similar to that in the U.S. [41, 55, 77, 85], the process was complicated by nuanced interpersonal dynamics in a context lacking both established support policies and disability awareness.”

    From Access in the Shadow of Ableism: An Autoethnography of a Blind Student's Higher Education Experience in China (2026) · cites this paper as [41]

  • Similar experiences occurred repeatedly throughout Zhang's study at University B; negotiating with others to secure access introduced significant labor to study.

    “Similar experiences occurred repeatedly throughout Zhang's study at University B. Similar to findings reported in the U.S. [41, 55, 77, 85], negotiating with others to secure access introduced significant labor to study.”

    From Access in the Shadow of Ableism: An Autoethnography of a Blind Student's Higher Education Experience in China (2026) · cites this paper as [41]

  • Many of the issues identified are shared across geographical areas, such as the widespread lack of accessible resources, negotiation between multiple parties, and significant labor placed on disabled students.

    “Many of the issues we identified are shared across geographical areas, such as the widespread lack of accessible resources [86, 87], negotiation between multiple parties [52, 55], and significant labor placed on disabled students [41].”

    From Access in the Shadow of Ableism: An Autoethnography of a Blind Student's Higher Education Experience in China (2026) · cites this paper as [41]

  • WEIRD regions tend to have centralized entities providing accessibility support, such as disability offices or centers.

    “These regions also tend to have centralized entities providing accessibility support, such as disability offices or centers [41, 52].”

    From Access in the Shadow of Ableism: An Autoethnography of a Blind Student's Higher Education Experience in China (2026) · cites this paper as [41]

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Authors
Jain, D., Potluri, V., & Sharif, A.
Affiliations
University of Washington (US)
ORCID
Venue
Proceedings of the 22nd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility
Publisher
ACM
Published
2020-10-26
Pages
1-11
DOI
10.1145/3373625.3416986
OpenAlex
W3097443064
Cited by
90
References
58
Citations by year
2026: 14 · 2025: 18 · 2024: 26 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 1
FWCI
8.30
Type
conference paper
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Safety Research › Disability Education and Employment
  • Social Sciences › Safety Research › Disability Rights and Representation
  • Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Doctoral Education Challenges and Solutions
Keywords
disability accommodation, accessibility, coping strategies, self-image, peer relationships, faculty support, assistive technology, university infrastructure, higher education equity

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