Disabilities in the College Admissions Process: Information for High School Counselors, IECs, and College Admissions Professionals

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Blue slide with the words "Disabiliies in the College Admissions Process" Leslie Thatcher EdD and Annie Tulkin, MS May 20, 2025

At Accessible College, we often work alongside high school counselors and Independent College Consultants (IECs) to provide holistic support for students with physical disabilities and health conditions. Additionally, we provide guidance and consulting support to higher education admissions professionals. Contact us to learn about how we can work together and check out our online course, “Preparing Students with Physical Disabilities and Health Conditions for College“. 

We created this presentation for the Physical Disability, Health/Sensory affinity group, part of  National Association for College Admissions Counseling’s Disability and Neurodiversity special interest group (SIG).  We hoped to provide our colleagues, high school counselors, IECs, colleges admissions professionals with information and considerations to inform their work with students with disabilities who make up about 21% of college students. Students with disabilities may encounter a range of unexpected barriers as they plan for college. The needs of students with physical disabilities, sensory impairments, mobility/sensory(vision, hearing) impairments, health and mental health, learning disabilities, and neurodiversity are diverse.  These disabilities may impact students’ ability to access and engage in the admissions process. Families may not be aware of the changes that their children will encounter upon graduation. College counselors and admissions professionals may not know how to best support students with disabilities, or where meaningful resources can be found.  In this session, we explored how to support students to prepare and how colleges can create holistically inclusive admissions experiences, to meet the diverse needs of students with disabilities.

Speakers:
Annie Tulkin, CEO/Founder, Accessible College, LLC
Leslie Thatcher, Director, Program Development and Strategy, Transition Center, Perkins School for the Blind

Watch the recorded session:

Session resource sheet