By Natalie Sandoval
“One of the most prestigious universities in the US offers perks to those who say they have ADHD, night terrors, even gluten intolerance. You’d be stupid not to game the system,” writes Elsa Johnson, an undergraduate at Stanford University, for The Times.
That system is Stanford’s “disability accommodation” apparatus, which doles out privileges to the on-paper disabled: The “best housing on campus,” extra time on tests, extra absences from class, tardiness allowances. (RELATED: Shocking Number Of Elite College’s Students Claim ‘Disability’ To Avoid Roommates)
Nearly 4 in 10 Stanford undergraduates are registered as having a disability, The Atlantic claimed in December 2025. That Fall quarter, nearly a quarter (24%) of Stanford undergraduates received academic or housing accommodations. About a fifth of Harvard undergraduates received disability accommodations in the past year, the Harvard Crimson reported in December 2025. The number of “disabled” Harvard undergraduates has risen from 3% to 21% in 2024.
The percentage of Harvard students receiving disability accommodations has risen from about 3% in 2014 to 21% in 2024.
The Harvard Crimson published this graphic showing the rise at Harvard and several other elite schools.
Watch Brown and Stanford too! pic.twitter.com/TplTnJaPFp
— Steve McGuire (@sfmcguire79) December 8, 2025
“The truth is, the system is there to be gamed, and most students feel that if you’re not gaming it, you’re putting yourself at a disadvantage. That’s why I decided to claim my legitimate illness — endometriosis — as a disability at Stanford,” Johnson writes.
Endometriosis “causes tissue that is similar to the lining of the uterus to grow in other places where it doesn’t belong,” according to Cleveland Clinic. It can cause pelvic pain and heavy periods.
An aside: In my experience, Gen Z women are afflicted by chronic illnesses such as endometriosis, irritable bowel syndrome, and Hashimoto’s disease in astonishing numbers. A consequence of poor diets, perhaps, or the result of generation-wide Munchausen syndrome.
Johnson says some students claim to be severely disabled. (One wonders if they should be living on campus at all, in that case.) But, she says, “most students, in my experience, claim less severe ailments, such as ADHD or anxiety … Students claim ‘night terrors’; others say they ‘get easily distracted’ or they ‘can’t live with others.’ I know a guy who was granted a single room because he needs to wear contacts at night. I’ve heard of a girl who got a single because she was gluten intolerant.”
This is a great piece with some mind-boggling statistics.
– At Brown and Harvard, more than 20% of undergraduates are registered as disabled
– At Amherst: more than 30 percent
– At Stanford: nearly 40 percentSoon, many of these schools “may have more students receiving… pic.twitter.com/GEmr8Tw8Az
— Derek Thompson (@DKThomp) December 2, 2025
Johnson maintains the validity of her disability, but hints that her motivation for registering it with the school is purely selfish: “That’s why I felt justified in claiming endometriosis as a disability … I’m often doubled over in agony from the problem, for which there is no known cure, so I decided to ask for a single room in a campus dorm where I could endure those moments in private … While I feel entitled to my single room, I would feel guilty about some of the perks I have — except that so many of my fellow students have gamed the system.” (RELATED: Students Ask Elite University To Send Them To Gaza So They Can ‘Grieve’ Properly)
It seems that the primary lesson students at elite universities are learning is to commit guiltless deception to advance their own interests. Stanford itself deserves some blame for going along with the con. I do wonder if Stanford is motivated, in part, by a fear of being sued by a “disabled” student touting the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Title III of which applies to privately-funded universities.
