It’s disheartening to realize that only around 37% of college students with a disability report it to their college. Many don’t know how to report, fear stigma, or feel undeserving of accommodations. Even when students do disclose their disability, many accommodation requests go unfulfilled. Dual enrollment college-level classes offer disabled high school students an early chance to learn how to navigate these challenges, but they are also full of obstacles. Disabled students can and do access dual enrollment every year, but they are underrepresented nationwide. While 13% of high schoolers have disabilities, only about 4% of dual enrollment students are disabled. That gap is significant. As a legally blind student who has been participating in dual enrollment for around two years, I’ve experienced both the benefits and the difficulties first-hand. I know that disabled students can succeed, but high schools and colleges must do a better job of ensuring access for disabled students and helping them succeed.
My Experience as a Dual Enrollment Student
I took college-level English and Spanish in my junior year of high school, and in my senior year, I took writing. Now, I am finishing a psychology class. Since my school functions on a trimester schedule, these courses were 8 to 12 weeks, making them short compared to most college courses. In Oregon, my state, these are called Z courses, which every public university and college in the state is required to accept. I took all of these courses at my high school since I had no access to transportation to take classes at the local community college.
Much of the burden for getting what I needed to participate in these classes fell on me. Self-advocacy was the first and most important skill I needed to learn to navigate dual enrollment. I quickly learned that if I didn’t speak up, my needs would be overlooked. I had to talk to my high school teachers, my counselor, and my education service district (ESD)—the regional organization responsible for ensuring I received appropriate services—to clearly lay out my accommodations. That was not something that came easily to me, but it was essential.
Barriers were a real issue. The school’s Chromebooks weren’t accessible for me, so I needed better tools. Through my ESD, I was able to borrow a laptop and iPad, which made a big difference. But some obstacles were insurmountable. Transportation was the biggest one for me in limiting my dual enrollment portfolio. I couldn’t drive because of my vision, and public transportation in my small town was unreliable. That kept me from taking some community college courses.
Supports such as those provided by my Teacher of Students with Visual Impairments (TVI), who worked with me through the ESD, my counselor, my professors, and even my classmates also made dual enrollment possible. For example, my TVI got me large-print books throughout high school, and my classmates let me look at their notes when my dual enrollment English teacher wrote something on the board I could not quite see. Sometimes it was hard to admit I needed help, but it helped me to realize that every student, with a disability or not, leans on others to succeed.
How Accommodations Work
Another thing I had to learn was the difference in accommodation policy and practice between high school and college. High school accommodations are governed by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which requires schools to educate disabled students and to create individualized education plans (IEPs), or Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, which requires equal access to appropriate education through accommodations. Colleges are structured differently with a focus on both Section 504 and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). That means IEPs won’t automatically carry over. Students need to request accommodations directly from the college disability services office and provide documentation of their disability.
“If you’re a student: Build your team, use your resources, and don’t be afraid to ask questions. If you’re an educator or policymaker: Listen to your disabled students, look at your local data on access to dual enrollment, improve training and communication, and design systems that include services for disabled students from the start.”
Before classes begin, students should look up their college’s disability office and know what paperwork they’ll ask for. They can also look up ESD services, or the local version of ESD in their area. For me, they set up college tours, walked me through websites, and introduced me to disability offices. Many students don’t know these resources exist, but they are truly a lifeline.
As a dual enrollment student, it’s important to make it clear what you need and to be specific. This means talking to your school counselor and the college disability office. I struggled with asking for help, but every time I did, someone was willing to meet me in the middle. If transportation is a barrier, students who can’t drive or whose health limits in-person attendance can consider online or hybrid courses.
How Dual Enrollment Programs Can Improve
Colleges can improve the accessibility of dual enrollment courses by making disability services clear in their classrooms. They should be discussed during orientation alongside other first-day information. That way every student knows where to go for accommodations. Schools should provide links to organizations like the National Center for College Students with Disabilities and the College in High School Alliance so students are prepared. Educators involved in dual enrollment should receive basic training in trauma-informed teaching and neurodiversity awareness.
Colleges and universities should also use the Universal Design for Learning framework to design courses that are accessible from the start. Making courses accessible includes captioning videos, making PDFs readable, adding alt text to images, and providing adaptive technologies (screen readers, large print, braille, etc.) by default.
Hybrid and online options should be expanded. More flexible courses—with ample opportunities for engagement with the instructors and other students—will help students who face physical or mental health challenges to access the classroom.
Colleges and their local high schools should also create systems to smoothly transfer IEP and Section 504 information with students’ consent. They should also build a system where high school and college staff regularly check in with each other and with dual enrollment students who have disabilities. It is important to remember they are still high schoolers learning how to navigate the college world.
Dual enrollment has the power to build success for disabled students, but only if high schools and colleges take accessibility seriously. Students must learn to self-advocate, but institutions must also step up with clear pathways, training, communication, and universal design. If you’re a student: Build your team, use your resources, and don’t be afraid to ask questions. If you’re an educator or policymaker: Listen to your disabled students, look at your local data on access to dual enrollment, improve training and communication, and design systems that include services for disabled students from the start.
I’m grateful for dual enrollment. It sharpened my self-advocacy skills, gave me early college experience, and pushed me to think about my future. I may take another class, and I’d recommend that any student with access to these opportunities try at least one course. Disabled students aren’t asking for special treatment, we are asking for a fair chance to succeed. And dual enrollment, if improved, can give more of us just that.
