You get extra time on exams and to do your homework if disabled, so it pays for future leaders and budding private equity operators to game the system.
intercst
4 Likes
Wow, just think, next we might see people willing to lose a leg just to take advantage of being disabled.
Or, maybe we should not automatically disparage people with disabilities. I would have thought you of all people would allow for some grace on that point.
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Or maybe 38% of Stanford students aren’t actually disabled.
Kinda like the Jetway Jesus scam. https://www.wsj.com/lifestyle/travel/jetway-jesus-wheelchair-passengers-miracle-flights-0eaccfb3?gaa_at=eafs&gaa_n=AWEtsqdxgdEXHIwIETt88FXF0L5QphEGKPtQMC11ecLUxH9tSsoegJYv8BUsuM8zlVk%3D&gaa_ts=6946290a&gaa_sig=DnvB2MSFRHXw7UlSgVB3ICpPI_hFkBJ4H0Yo3KIiyfs4LqdE-6idS6n0_NeJKZMgHPpAPZ-iYQrdQPy7EyL2cg%3D%3D
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{{ Wow, just think, next we might see people willing to lose a leg just to take advantage of being }}disabled.
If “Golf Mode” on the new microprocessor-controlled leg improves my score, I’ll let you know. {{ LOL }}
About 30 years ago the State of Connecticut published a list with the number and percentage of students in each town who had learning disabilities that allowed them to take extra time on the SAT exam.
I would have expected the drug infested cities of Bridgeport and Hartford where you had the crack babies to lead the list. Instead the wealthy towns of Greenwich and Darien were #1 and #2, apparently driven by the big business of hiring a psychologist to give your child a qualifying diagnosis.
Just another way that the middle class is getting screwed.
intersct
10 Likes
People with disabilities clearly deserve accomodations…others are gaming the system -
I liken it to able bodied people who get a handicap placard for their vehicle. Bastards.
8 Likes
It’s been happening for years–it’s a form of body dysphoria called transableism–where people seek to embody–literally–a disability.
The Stanford situation is everywhere in academia (I teach, have taught at Stanford, and am disabled)–the accommodations students get are both deserved and not–the problem is that there are no repercussions for those who game the system; but there are severe repercussions for institutions that fail to provide accommodations in legitimate cases–so they err on the side of error. But the game plan changes when they graduate and seek jobs in the real world.
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Well maybe.
8/14/2025
A trend that may be on the rise.
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Frankly, if someone brought a parent to an interview, I would not bother to interview them since I am not hiring the parent.
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Or…offer their mom a job! “Well Kevin, it’s obvious you’re very well prepared for this interview. We’re interested in bringing on the person who coached you up.”
I’m more aware of this now that I have a handicapped parking placard.
More than half the time, when I see someone walking away from a handicapped spot, they’re walking like an able-bodied person.
intercat
6 Likes
You may have missed the point (as it wasn’t made entirely clearly). The people being disparaged AREN’T the people that have disabilities, it is the people who are faking having a disability in order to enjoy some of the accommodations that are given to them!
Another way to look at it is using a thought experiment as follows. If certain things are given to people with disabilities, and 5% of the people have such disabilities, then those 5% should indeed be given those things (more time on SAT, more time for assignments, exams, etc). What happens if the other 95% of the people, or some large percentage of them, find a way to also qualify as having such a disability? Sure we could say, well we need to give them the benefit of the doubt and let them also access those things. And right now we do so. But now look at the results … if “everyone” (or some large percentage qualify) then what accommodation exactly did the truly disabled folks receive? None! Because they are “all” being given equal accommodation.
4 Likes
I don’t see it. Every kid today has multiple diagnoses…type II diabetes is everywhere. There is ADHD still everywhere, or another one, Autism. Those are some of the bigger ones. Just being a 17 y/o alcoholic might be considered a diagnosis.
Possibly more than 38% are disabled. Admitting it might be hard.
In our day just about no one had their ticket punched with a diagnosis.
1 Like
I personally know of two whom did that. They did not lose their leg, but damaged it pretty good. But the stakes were much higher in their situation. Me? I used another out…”God Bless my 2S”
My approach to this was to create exams that were one question to which there was no right answer. They had a couple of days to respond and the answer was limited to the equivalent of 2 typewritten pages (very little abuse in handwritten responses). Thus, the students were being asked to make the same kind of judgements as a person in the field. I was considered the hardest teacher in the department, but also the second favorite (#1 was a guy who spent classes telling interesting stories and was an easy grader).
Today in the age of AI, this would be rather useless. Not to mention that teachers don’t want to spend their time wading through two pages of AI generated “cr@p” per student.
It would be interesting to see what AI would come up with when the topic had no right answer. With 500 students I had teaching assistants and we had quite a system for grading.