4/15 Case Studies: Real Accessibility Complaints in Higher Education

Join DNA for an eye-opening conversation about real legal and civil complaints filed by students with disabilities at Duke and other universities. We’ll explore how individual students - not lawyers or organizations - have fought for their rights when campus processes didn’t protect them.

We’ll discuss:

• Real cases where universities faced complaints for denying accommodations or accessibility.

• The difference between formal grievances (inside the school) and civil complaints (outside the system).

• What “failure to accommodate” actually looks like in legal terms — and what it means for students navigating chronic illness or neurodivergence.

• Lessons we can learn from others who have gone through it: where they succeeded, where they burned out, and how to protect yourself.

• How individual advocacy, documentation, and persistence can prevent issues from escalating to that level.

Case examples we’ll review:

• A blind Duke student’s 2020 complaint against the university for inaccessible course materials and career resources.

• Several ongoing Department of Education Office for Civil Rights (OCR) investigations into denied accommodations at Duke.

• Similar cases at Boston University, CUNY, and West Los Angeles College, where students fought for recognition of their access needs.