Summary
The hidden curriculum encompasses the unwritten expectations students must navigate in college, with disabled students facing additional barriers related to self-advocacy, accommodations, and disclosure.
Upon entering college, there are a myriad of unspoken rules that instructors do not explicitly teach in a standard classroom. These unwritten rules collectively form what is known as the hidden curriculum. Such unofficial expectations encompass the social, cultural, and institutional expectations that can significantly impact a student’s academic journey and their success in higher education. Common examples of the hidden curriculum include knowing how to network and build rapport with your peers, engaging in professional communication, or decoding academic jargon.
These unstated expectations can create challenges for all students to some extent, particularly as they navigate complex, uncharted territory. However, disabled students face an additional layer of barriers embedded within the hidden curriculum. Students with disabilities must navigate institutional systems, advocate for their needs, and anticipate disability-related barriers. They also have to make decisions about when and how to disclose their disability, all while navigating the broader expectations of the standardized hidden curriculum.
One of the first lessons that many disabled students encounter upon entering college is the importance of self-advocacy. A student isn’t just learning how to succeed academically; they’re understanding how to navigate the institution itself. Disabled students are also learning how to request accommodations, communicate with professors, handle situations when professors or institutions do not follow accommodations, and ask for help when and how to do so. In most cases, institutions expect them to navigate these circumstances on their own.
Disclosure can become another significant part of the hidden curriculum, and institutions present it as a straightforward process: tell the appropriate office, provide documentation, receive accommodations, and move forward. However, receiving an accommodations letter doesn’t answer the much more personal question: Who should I tell about my disability and when?
Many students with disabilities wonder whether to disclose to a professor, roommate, classmate, or friend, which can be particularly complicated. They may have to consider the following:
- How much information do I want to share?
- Do I feel safe telling this person?
- Will they understand?
- Will they treat me differently?
- Do I need to explain why I need this accommodation?
- What happens if I don’t disclose?
Institutions often frame disclosure as a practical step toward receiving support. However, for many disabled students, it is also an emotional and social decision. It requires weighing vulnerability against access, privacy against understanding, and the possibility of support against the fear of being misunderstood. Once students decide to share their disability, they still have to learn how to navigate a system that may require them to continually advocate for themselves
Disabled students shouldn’t have to become experts in navigating inaccessible systems just to participate in college. The hidden curriculum exists partly because institutions leave students to figure out too much on their own. Institutions should aim to design systems that don’t require extraordinary levels of self-advocacy simply to receive equitable access.
