Navigating the double-edged sword of academic accommodations: Accommodations stress and mood symptoms

The academic accommodations process has been essential for promoting access to education for students with disabilities for decades. Still, students report that the process itself can be stressful and labor-intensive. The present study used mixed methods to explore relationships between satisfaction with the academic accommodations process and depression and anxiety symptoms in a transdiagnostic but autism-enriched sample of first-semester undergraduate students who sought academic accommodations (n = 46). Findings suggest that 1) satisfaction with how accommodations supported academic achievement, 2) satisfaction with the implementation of accommodations by professors, and 3) accommodations being perceived as more helpful than harmful are associated with depression symptomatology at the end of the semester, after controlling for baseline depression at the beginning of the semester. Qualitatively, themes of 1) challenges related to power imbalance and advocating for oneself, and 2) confusion and difficulties in navigating the system were observed. Thus, the authors find further support for the conceptualization of the academic accommodations process as it currently exists being a double-edged sword - both essential for student success and potentially harmful for mental health, when inefficient or demanding.