Alexa Rand is no stranger to advocating for herself. Born with a heart condition that limits her physical mobility and weakens her immune system, the fifth-year music major has spent her entire life voicing her accessibility needs.
But that soon changed when she applied for additional accommodations in preparation for an unexpected open-heart surgery after her first year. She said the department was unresponsive and initially unwilling to approve her requests which would allow her to take her classes online during the two-month recovery period.
“DAS would not answer, and then their immediate solution to everything is to take a medical leave. Every time something gets a little hard — medical leave,” said Rand, the co-president of Diversability, the university’s disability advocacy club.
As a disabled student on campus, Rand is eligible for accommodations through the Disability Access Services, or DAS, which serves students who have “documented disabilities as defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act as Amended (ADAAA) of 2008,” the DAS website reads. The department offers both academic and residential accommodations, such as single rooms in residence halls or extended time on tests, to students with conditions that “substantially limit[s] one or more major life activity.”
While the office exists to serve students with disabilities, many are left feeling unsupported over long wait times, dismissive staff and an arduous accommodation approval process. Kyle Droz, director of DAS, said that the department is aware of student frustrations and working to improve their internal system.
“We are aware that there is a lag and the students aren’t happy about it,” Droz said.
Several students told The Huntington News that emails go unanswered by their representatives for weeks. Droz said there are about 350 to 400 students assigned to each specialist at DAS, including students from campuses across degree levels and the university’s global campuses.
Francesca Turner, a Northeastern alumna who graduated with a master’s degree in counseling and applied psychology in the spring of 2024, recalled feeling like a “nuisance” to the DAS. Turner, who applied for accommodations to support her autism spectrum disorder and ADHD diagnoses, reported difficulty getting in contact with her DAS representative.
“The hardest part of working with the DAS was just getting to talk to a person. It just felt like I was pulling teeth,” Turner said.
To get accommodations approved by the DAS, formerly known as the Disability Resource Center, students must submit a series of forms signed by the relevant medical professionals detailing their symptoms and the accommodation they want approved. These forms are then reviewed by two DAS specialists who determine if the request is approved or denied.
Generally, requests take about three weeks to process depending on how intricate the request is, the volume of requests the DAS is receiving at the time and how much documentation needs to be sifted through, Droz said. However, he said that some requests are able to be filled sooner.
Rand described her initial accommodations approval process as “pretty easy,” noting that because her condition is congenital, she had plenty of documentation to substantiate her accommodation requests.
“I am chronically disabled,” Rand said. “I’ve had documentation on my disability since my birth, so I have the privilege of having those resources and having doctors who can write those [files] up for me on speed dial.” Rand said.
Droz explained that one reason accommodations are not approved is because the request is “not really supported by the documentation” provided. Additionally, college-level accommodations available under the ADAAA differ from those appropriate for kindergarten through grade 12, which fall under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act.
Due to the differences between Section 504 and the ADAAA, the DAS relies on formal diagnosis paperwork or, in the case of an yet to be diagnosed condition, documentation from a medical professional outlining the student’s symptoms.
Droz explained that the demand for accommodations has evolved during his time at Northeastern. When he began working at the DAS in 2013, Droz said that ADHD and learning disabilities were the most common diagnoses he encountered. Today, he said, the student profiles are more complex with students often having two or three diagnoses.
While students’ needs have changed, Droz said the goal of DAS remains the same: to help students get the accommodations they need.
“We never want to have an accommodation be a reason [why] someone can’t do something or can’t participate,” Droz said. “We don’t want to isolate students. We really want to make sure that students that have these accommodations, they’re really engaging in the full process, which is really the goal.”
Additionally, students report high representative turnover, leading to frustration when trying to get answers or support. Edith De Rosa-Purcell, a Northeastern alumna who graduated last spring with a bachelor’s degree in behavioral neuroscience, said these consistent changes caused her to feel “left in the dark.”
“There has also been a lot of turnover in the advisors,” she said. “Pretty much from my freshman year until I was going to graduation, I’d gone through at least three different advisors. I went long stints of time not knowing who my case manager was or I went through long periods of time just not getting things approved.”
This high turnover drastically impacted De Rosa-Purcell’s experience with the DAS. While applying for accommodations her freshman year, she felt immensely supported by her specialist, noting that they effectively explained the differences between high school and college-level accommodations. But when her representative left, so did her positive experience.
“I also wish the DAS just had a bit more structure and stability and was more accommodating and welcoming to their students,” she said. “It’s very mentally taxing to be disabled and to have to constantly be the one advocating for yourself, on top of the fact that you may be doing clubs, sports, … co-ops.”
