Price notes that accommodations systems in academia are often based in the assumption that access should be measurable and distributed by a person with authority. Because of this basis, accommodations systems are often driven by questions of cost, who deserves access, and punishment for not engaging with the system in ways deemed correct. Because of these theoretical bases, many accommodations systems require that students obtain biocertification - often through diagnosis paperwork or other medical forms - to prove that they are disabled enough to receive, in turn another form of biocertification, an official letter of accommodation.

Biocertification, Surveillance and Accommodation

Biocertification, termed by Ellen Samuels encompasses the government and medical documents that are used to authenticate a person's social identity through biology. Samuels emphasizes that biocertification can lead to individuals having to produce multiple documents to authenticate social identity, increased uncertainty over whether documentation will be accepted and bureaucratic delays. 

University of Wisconsin - Madison

Price notes that biocertification is often used as a tool of surveillance of disabled individuals in academia - whether it is requirements that individuals obtain supporting documentation for accommodations claims, letters from doctors to justify leaves of absence, or detailed accounts of pain and inability to justify disability states, disabled people are often asked to prove disability status through biocertification.

Biocertification and Surveillance

Price discusses how requesting accommodations is a time and resource consuming process - employees often have to prove their disabilities over an over again through methods including tests, medical records, or physical demonstrations. This process of proof itself is resource intensive often requiring payment of doctors or degregation of one's bodymind to show a level of symptoms that are legible to non-disabled individuals. Additionally when accommodations are granted bureaucratic delays often prevent them from being put into place right away leading to a time where employees are expected to use their own resources to accommodate themselves. Once the accommodation is in place often the burden is put on the employee or student to coordinate the usage and enforcement of their accommodation.

Employees Uses Own Resources - Accommodations Loop

Price, M. (2024). Crip Spacetime. Duke University Press.

Crip Spacetime

Samuels, Ellen. 2014. Fantasies of Identification: Disability, Gender, Race. New York: New York University Press. http://muse.jhu.ed/book/29412. 

Fantasies of Identification: Disability, Gender, Race

Biocertification

Price doesn't directly discuss this but another resource individuals often have to use to obtain the biocertification required to get accommodations is social capital is dealing with medical professionals. It is common for disabled individuals to experience medical professionals who are wary of signing paperwork around accommodations out of a belief that accommodations might hem-in or negatively define the capacities of their patient. This experience is felt more keenly by both femme presenting and AFAB patients along with Black, Indigenous, and other patients of color because of histories of medical misogyny and racism that lead to the symptoms of these individuals being downplayed and no believed. Because of this often patients have to leverage social capital - through taking time to prove to their doctor they need medical paperwork signed or through bargainning and framing it as a favour - to obtain paperwork that allows them to get accommodations.

Social Capital as a Resource in Securing Accommodations

Price notes that the experiences on the right side of the accommodations loop, the slow system and time sensitive access needs will intensify the need for employees to use their own resources - through self-accommodating in times when the slow system is not meeting access needs. Additionally, employees may have to explain their self-accommdation or the inadequacy of the slow system to others, heightening emotional costs. This compounding labour and resource extraction for access leads to employees leaving their job as the only way out of the accommodation loop. 

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