Is Everyone Disabled Now? (WSPN)
The Political Orphanage
Andrew Heaton
4.9 • 1000 Ratings
🗓️ 31 December 2025
⏱️ 67 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
College students are increasingly registering as disabled–particularly at high-end universities, which often entails longer test times and extensions on papers. Does the growing rate of accommodation mean American universities are simply better at identifying disabilities; evidence of students and their families gaming the system for advantages; or a cultural shift wherein students increasingly believe they are disabled, but aren't?
Dr. Andrea Jones-Rooy (a former university educator) and Michael Ira Kaplan (a parent) weigh in.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to the political orphanage, a home for plucky misfits and problem solvers. |
| 0:13.8 | I'm your host, Andrew Heaton, recording in that weird holiday in a regnum between Christmas and New Year's. |
| 0:20.8 | Happy holidays? So apparently... weird holiday and a regnum between Christmas and New Year's. |
| 0:22.6 | Happy holidays? |
| 0:29.7 | So apparently, the students registered as disabled or in need of accommodation has skyrocketed in higher education, particularly the higher end of higher education, raising the question of, |
| 0:36.0 | is this real or are colleges overdoing it? |
| 0:40.4 | And if they are, is it because students and families are gaming the system or because we've |
| 0:46.0 | trained a generation of people to think of themselves as disabled? |
| 0:50.1 | To tackle that thorny discussion, I will loop in a recent college educator and a parent. Enjoy. |
| 0:59.0 | We are bringing back the world's smartest podcast network, although as per usual now, we don't have all of the members of our gang here. |
| 1:09.4 | Unfortunately, Turner Sparks has been poisoned. This is what the, |
| 1:13.0 | the papers are saying. He has been poisoned. One could assume that it is food poisoning. I am going |
| 1:19.3 | straight to foul play. I believe he has been poisoned. I have a list of people that I will |
| 1:24.8 | mention on air later in an attempt to cause injury to their careers. But he can't join us. Fortunately, we are joined by... The Saudis. Huh? The Saudis poisoned him. Sorry to jump in. That's right. Yeah. Well, we gave it all away. They got the revenge. Yep. They got him. That was it. The first voice you heard there, that is Michael Ira Kaplan. He is a friend of mine, a member of WSPN, and the official New York real estate agent of WSPN. |
| 1:51.1 | Yes, thank you. |
| 1:51.8 | Should note for our purposes today, as we will be talking about disabilities in higher education, |
| 1:57.5 | Kaplan, to our knowledge, is the only person in WSPN who has children. So he's got... I thought you're going to say has a disability, but has children. I both. I think... I had a disability before they were cool, and I am fertile. So, yes, I can procre... I know that one is proven they can procreate on the staff. Which I consider a disability, but we can talk about that later. And the voice that you are hearing there is Dr. Andrea Jones-Roy. |
| 2:21.7 | They're the host of Behind the Data, and while not a parent, is a former academic, who in fact, toiled in the academic minds of New York City in higher education for some time. |
| 2:34.4 | Hello, Andrea. |
| 2:35.3 | Hello. |
| 2:35.8 | It's good to be here. |
| 2:36.9 | I'm excited for the airing of grievances and candid discussion. |
... |
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