An example of how we can improve disability services in academia to crip the accommodation process by viewing disability as fluid comes from a 2017 case study Kroger and Kraus did of the University of Arizona. The University of Arizona used guidelines from the Association of Higher Education and Disability (AHEAD) and implemented these guidelines into their process by instead of having students just present medical information and be given a set of accommodations students discussed with staff the disability barriers they faced. Students were able to edit and adjust accommodations throughout the semester based on their needs. 

Example: Disability Services at the University of Arizona

Crip authenticity refers to practices that center the fluid nature of disability and time that reject ableist assumptions that prescribe normative assumptions for how people are supposed to inhabit their bodies and engage with space and time. Crip authenticity recognizes disability as fluid both throughout a person's lifespan and when individuals move from one context to another.

Crip Authenticity

Having Disability Service departments embrace disability as fluid also helps shift disability from being perceived as a harmful derivation from the norm and shifts disability to being perceived in higher education as a form of diversity. When this culture shift is picked up by broader campuses it can mitigate the amount of time students spend considering if they are 'disabled enough' to receive accommodations.

How Viewing Disability as Fluid can Change Student Views

Shifting viewing disability to diversity also pushes back against academic ableism in the classroom - e.g. rigid class attendance and participation policies which penalize fluid disability. Views of disability as fluid can be implemented in the classroom through the syllabus statement.  

How Disability to Diversity changes the Classroom

"I very much want all students to thrive in this course. If you need an accommodation in order to fulfill the requirements of the course, you are encouraged to contact [Student Disability Services]. Disabilities may be apparent or non-apparent, such as physical disabilities, learning disabilities, and psychological disabilities (mental health). I also know that disability is fluid and that the nature of disability sometimes changes throughout the semester. As such, you might not know all of your accommodation needs at the start of the semester. I hope that, to the extent possible, you will feel comfortable disclosing this information and discussing your disability/ies with me. I want to work against the stigma often associated with disability and the ways that higher education is ableist. It is your right to be successful in this course."

Example: Syllabus Statement from Elisa Abes

- Example: Disability Services as the University of Arizona
- Crip Authenticity
- Perceiving Disability as Diversity
- Syllabus Statements

University of Wisconsin - Madison

Not viewing disability as fluid makes it harder for students to disclose. When students disclose disability often they face disbelief, have to perform emotional labor to teach their professors about their disability, and face the stigma tied to disability. Current accommodations processes in higher education which rely on students knowing and disclosing their accommodations at the beginning of the semester are not flexible processes that embrace disability as fluid.

Rigid Views of Disability and Accommodations

Abrams, E. J., Floyd, C. E., & Abes, E. S. (2024). Prioritizing Crip Futures: Applying Crip Theory to Create Accessible Academic Experiences in Higher Education. Disability Studies Quarterly, 43(4). https://doi.org/10.18061/dsq.v43i4.8270

Prioritizing Crip Futures: Applying Crip Theory to Create Accessible Academic Experiences in Higher Education

How to Move Toward Embracing Disability as Fluid in Academia

Price argues that accommodation works on a notion of disability as not fluid and requires disability to be both stable and knowable, since accommodations rest on an assumption that disabled people should be able to know and predict what they are going to need days, weeks, and semesters in advance, because of this accommodations lead to disabled people having to perform predictability and lines are created between those whose disabilities are stable enough to benefit from the protections of institutional accommodations and those whose needs are not. 

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