Graduation Semester and Year
Summer 2026
Language
English
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Social Work
Department
Social Work
First Advisor
Darlene Hunter
Second Advisor
Tracy Orwig
Third Advisor
Sarah Rose
Abstract
College is a very important and exciting chapter in students’ lives, one that will prepare them for a career and the rest of their lives. For one student population though, this also comes with additional unknowns, obstacles, and institutional barriers. This student population is students with disabilities. For a student with a disability pursuing a degree in higher education, there are institutional barriers that can be addressed by receiving academic accommodations, reducing or removing institutional barriers that disproportionately affect these students. The barriers faced by a student with a disability vary greatly by student, their disability, their major or program, and the management of their disability. While the diagnosis of a chronic illness itself does not meet the definition of a disability, chronic illnesses often impact an individual through disabling symptoms, as their condition progresses and begins to impair movement, senses, daily functioning, and independence. Chronic illness, chronic conditions, and chronic disease are all terms that are often used interchangeably to describe a variety of health conditions that are long term and often life-long (Cleveland Clinic, 2025). Students with chronic illnesses in higher education are overall understudied, but the unique barriers which they face in obtaining documentation to receive accommodations is a specific area that needs to be studied more. This thesis explores the barriers that these students face and the gaps in research that currently exist.
Keywords
Disability, academic accommodations, barriers, documentation, students with disabilities, chronic illness, chronic condition, students with chronic illness, chronic illness and disability
Disciplines
Social Work
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Sutton, Lauren M., "Navigating Academic Accommodations for Students with Chronic Illnesses in Higher Education: A Scoping Review" (2026). Social Work Theses. 6.
https://mavmatrix.uta.edu/socialwork_theses2/6
Comments
Thank you to all of those who have supported me through my journey. First and foremost, I thank God for giving me a passion of helping others, the strength to advocate for myself and others, a testimony of faith and perseverance, and the ability to do all of this in His name. To my husband, thank you for your support and constant encouragement to keep pursuing my passion in helping others. To my parents, thank you for teaching me to advocate for myself and others, while using my own story and hardships to lay a path of accessibility for those to come. To my committee, thank you for your guidance and encouragement through this process as well as your encouragement to do a thesis in the first place. To all of my other friends and family who have supported me, please know that it means the world to me.