For many disabled students, the divide between what exists on paper and what they experience in their day-to-day lives is not new, but it is part of a much longer history of advocacy on campus. Following the recent announcement of a Disability Resource Hub set to open in Fall 2026, the historical inattention to disabled students has come into sharper focus. 

When the Americans with Disabilities Act passed in 1990, the legislation marked a major turning point in how universities approach accessibility and prompted UC San Diego to formally commit to improving access for disabled students. 

Formal measures in the 1990s included the creation of disability access guidelines under the Chancellor’s Office and the expansion of administrative systems such as the Office for Students with Disabilities. These policies emphasized protecting the rights of disabled students and ensuring compliance with federal law. These early efforts represented one of the University’s first institutional responses to disabilities and helped lay the groundwork for organized advocacy on campus. By the early 2000s, student advocacy efforts led to the formation of groups like the Disabled Students’ Union. 

However, progress stalled in the early 2010s. In 2013, The UCSD Guardian published a letter from university employee Naomi Spellman, who described feeling unsafe and unsupported after requesting accommodations. 

“As a disabled employee, I no longer feel safe at work,” Spellman wrote. 

She described accommodations as being provided “only sporadically and begrudgingly,” and recalled being subjected to derogatory comments about her illness. Her experience highlighted a campus culture that treated disability as something to manage, rather than understand.

In 2017, these concerns from disabled students gained wider attention when former UCSD student Shahram Jazirian filed a lawsuit against the University of California Board of Regents and Chancellor Pradeep Khosla. He alleged that multiple campus departments failed to provide necessary accommodations, ultimately leading to academic probation and the loss of his financial aid. Though UCSD ultimately won the case the following year, the suit itself raised serious concerns about the University’s treatment of disabled students.

“Every few years … students organize, and then they graduate,” said Matthew-Diego Benny, founder of the Blind Snakes Co-operative. “And then, it starts over.”

Disability advocacy at UCSD has not been led by a single organization, but by a series of student-led groups with varying activity. The Disabled Students’ Union in the early 2000s was followed by the creation of the Transdisciplinary Disability Studies group in 2016, and then the Disability Student Alliance in 2017. These organizations pushed for structural changes, such as a resource center. 

In recent history, organizations including Disabled at UCSD, the Students’ Civil Liberties Union, and the Blind Snakes Co-op, have built coalitions to continue this advocacy work. Their collaboration reflects a continuation of this legacy of organization, bringing together students across generations.

When Benny first transferred to UCSD, he did not find an established disability community. There were few visible organizations, no central gathering space, and limited opportunities for students to connect.

At one point, he felt uncomfortable disclosing his learning disability and waited until lecture halls emptied before approaching professors.

“That’s ridiculous,” he said. “Why should I be ashamed?”

In Fall 2024, Benny founded the Blind Snakes Co-op to address that gap. The organization combines mutual aid with advocacy, offering resources such as free food distributions and academic support.

“You need people to trust you,” Benny said. “Then, you push for change.”

Many of the challenges disabled students describe are not immediately visible. Instead, they are embedded within institutional systems.

OSD, for example, requires a verification process that can take weeks. In a 10-week academic quarter, this delay can leave students without accommodations during key points in the term, including exam seasons.

Thousands of students rely on a limited number of specialists, and students often find that the system struggles to meet demand.

SCLU President Aryan Dixit said the barriers for disabled students extend beyond paperwork and reflect the campus’s structural inequities.

“There might be a much deeper problem than what we’re seeing on the surface,” Dixit said, pointing to inaccessible pathways and gaps in campus infrastructure. He emphasized that these issues are not always immediately visible to students without disabilities.

Students and advocates point to the root issue of this discrepancy: how disability is framed at the institutional level.

A report by Benny and Dixit documents disability advocacy history at UCSD. The report notes that UCSD has historically operated within a “medical model” of disability. A “medical model” focuses on diagnosis and accommodation rather than identity. Benny and Dixit argue that this approach limits how disability is understood on campus, contributing to a lack of visibility and community across students of different abilities.

One central demand by student advocates in recent years has been to create a community space where students can connect, access resources, and organize — a resource center for disabled students beyond OSD. Advocates argue that such a space is necessary to address the current lack of support and visibility for disabled students.

“When I was trying to gather the voices of the disability community, it took a long time to find people,” said Hannah Nguyen, a former DSA leader. “There is no central place for disabled students to find each other.”

Financing challenges and administrative decisions have delayed progress, including a proposal combining the center’s funding with unrelated student fees, making it difficult to pass. However, after a joint push for a Disability Resource Hub, the coalition of organizations succeeded this past January. The Associated Student Senate allocated funding for a transitional Disability Resource Hub, with plans for a permanent location projected for Fall 2026.

“When they gave funding … that’s when it felt real,” Benny said. 

Students are expanding the scope of their advocacy after this win. This includes calling for broader structural changes, such as universal design in classrooms and increasing the efficiency of accommodation processes.

The Blind Snakes Co-op is currently campaigning for the establishment of a Disability Studies minor. Benny and Dixit say survey data shows strong student support, and advocates have already received endorsements from campus organizations and student leadership.

Benny is proud to be an advocate for disabled students and to be a disabled student himself.

“I’m very proud of having a disability,” Benny said. “It’s a wonderful thing.”