Shortly before entering her undergraduate education with hopes of pursuing a pre-law degree, author Nicole C. Greely was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and was legally blinded by the disease. Her plans now changed because of the progression of the disease, Greely learned to persevere through the educational system and completed both of her degrees.

“All modern nations have experienced, at one time or another, difficult economic times,” writes Greely. “The United States of America has had its share of economic crises. Such crises result in the disruption of most government budgetary arrangements resulting in the downsizing of budgetary allocations for many services according to government policy priorities. Education is one area usually seriously affected by budget reductions. Various services are either discontinued or reduced to challenging levels. Disabled Student services (DSS) is one such service that has been greatly affected by budgetary reductions (Krupnick 2011). The reduction in services may vary from state to state. This study focuses on Northern California, specifically in the Alameda and Contra Costa counties of the East Bay Area. Research carried out by DRA concluded that ‘although system-wide the community colleges have experienced average cuts of about 2.5%, the cuts to disability services are more than 40%, according to the California Association for Postsecondary Education and Disability’ (Disabled Rights Advocates 2012).

“During such difficult times, students resort to a variety of methods of financing their education, including student employment, financial aid, grants, and assistance from families. The thesis of this paper is that as a direct consequence of the current economic downturn, students with disabilities experience more barriers in postsecondary education than students without disabilities. I will demonstrate that the current economic downturn adversely affects students with disabilities in postsecondary education far more than their peers without disabilities. Consequently, students with disabilities are far more likely not to attain their academic goals.”

Published by Page Publishing, Nicole C. Greely’s enlightening tale was inspired by the author’s own personal hardships and struggles due to multiple sclerosis diagnosis, which led her to interview others with disabilities in higher education to find out about their experiences during difficult economic times. Through her writings, Greely highlights the various issues disabled students often face in acquiring adequate assistance when economic downturns often lead to financial cuts to programs that they rely on to achieve their academic needs, revealing the ever-growing disparity between able-bodied and disabled students.

Readers who wish to experience this engaging work can purchase “Disparity of Service” at bookstores everywhere, or online at the Apple iTunes Store, Amazon, Google Play, or Barnes and Noble.

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