Why More Students Are Requesting Accommodations: What Singapore Families Should Know

A question is circulating across schools and workplaces: Why are so many more students requesting disability accommodations? Increasingly, these accommodations are being framed as 'perks.' It's worth examining what this narrative does to students with disabilities, and to our collective understanding of access itself.

The Numbers Tell a Different Story

Research shows that about 21% of students have a disability—roughly one in five. Yet despite this prevalence, only about one-third of students with disabilities actually disclose their condition to receive formal support. The story isn't over-disclosure. It's under-disclosure, even now.

What's becoming visible isn't a generation gaming the system, but how rigid many educational systems still are. When schools, examinations, attendance policies, and programmes assume one type of body, brain, and energy level, accommodations become the mechanism students use just to participate on equal footing.

Understanding Invisible Disabilities

Many disabilities are invisible, dynamic, or fluctuating. Others only become clear when someone enters an environment that demands constant performance under narrow conditions. A student can manage in primary school with built-in support and familiar routines, until they transition to secondary school or tertiary education, lose that scaffolding, and face nonstop cognitive demands.

In many cases, it's not the person who has changed. It's the environment that finally reveals what was always there.

Progress, Not Abuse

Increased disclosure, particularly amongst younger generations, can actually be a sign of progress. Social media and greater awareness have helped many people find language and validation for experiences they were previously taught to hide. Naming disability is often not about suddenly becoming disabled—it's about finally understanding what's been happening all along.

The question we should be asking is not, 'Why are there so many students with disabilities now?' It's: 'Why did so many people feel they had to hide before?'

The Cost of Suspicion

When suspicion becomes the default response to accommodation requests, the system becomes quieter. People stop disclosing. They stop asking. They drop out, burn out, or disappear from the pipeline.

We already know what this looks like in outcomes. At many institutions globally, graduation rates for students with disabilities lag far behind peers without disabilities. This is evidence that access is still failing.

The Myth of Expensive Accommodations

There's a persistent myth that accommodations are expensive. Research shows that nearly half of accommodations cost nothing, and when they do require funding, they're typically modest. The barrier is often culture, not cost.

The most constructive path forward isn't to make access harder to request. It's to improve design so fewer people need individualised accommodations in the first place. Universal design in education means:

• Accessible course materials by default
• Flexible assessment formats
• Attendance policies grounded in disability reality
• Remote or hybrid options where appropriate

Lessons for Singapore

For Singapore families navigating special needs education, this global conversation offers important insights. As our awareness of diverse learning needs grows, we must ensure that support systems evolve too.

Schools and educational institutions are talent pipelines. They shape who gets credentialled, who gets opportunities, and who becomes employable. The same rigid assumptions in schools often follow into workplaces. That's why building inclusive education systems matters—not just for individual students, but for our entire economy and society.

Reframing the Question

Ultimately, the real issue is whether we believe disability and excellence can coexist. Too many systems still operate on an outdated assumption that the 'best' student is the one with the most stamina, the most linear development, and the fewest needs.

That is a narrow filter. And as more people refuse to disappear inside it, the question shouldn't be why they're asking for accommodations. The question should be why the system was built to require them in the first place.

Accessibility isn't charity—it's infrastructure that benefits everyone. When students with disabilities can access education fully, it expands our collective potential and strengthens our community.