I appreciate you reading my work and sharing my thoughts.

I am of two minds. On the one hand, many of my accommodations would definitely benefit everyone. I would like these accommodations to simply be policy. That is why I am working towards universal access.

For example, of course people should be able to miss class when we are sick, as often as we are sick, without needing official ADA documentation. Of course people should be able to take bathroom breaks for as long as needed. Of course students should be able to sit during classroom activities that otherwise would require standing, without needing to submit ADA documentation specifying that we have physical mobility limitations. Of course we should be able to attend classes remotely when ill.

I would like it if everyone had access to these options.

However, right now, these are all accommodations I had to submit pages of medical documentation, write out humiliating medical narratives, have intrusive conversations, and otherwise jump through bureaucratic hoops. All to have a letter that tells my professors that when they tell students to stand up, I have the right to sit down, and they can't insist I stand.

Pretty ridiculous. And yet.

It's not even a perfect system. I know someone who has a letter saying she can leave when she gets ill (Crohn's) and her professor was still getting on her case about it. I think professors don't know how to talk about it a lot of the time.

So I absolutely think that you're right, these things should be available to all students. I think if you can make them available to everyone, please do.

But what I think gets tricky and awful is when disabled people are put in the position of nonconsensually advocating for all students, by going through the ADA process, and then the professor gives the accommodation to everyone. At that point, we've just done a whole lot of labor on behalf of everyone else--and that sucks.