Seven years ago, when Harvard created its Student Disabilities Resource Center (SDRC), about 40 Harvard students were registered with disabilities.

Today, that number is close to 200. "It's a booming business," says Associate Registrar Thurston A. Smith.

Disabilities experts say that changes in public perceptions of disabilities, coupled with improvements in technology, have enabled more disabled students to pursue higher education at institutions such as Harvard. But increasing numbers of students are developing new disabilities such as repetitive stress injury (RSI) and carpal tunnel syndrome after they arrive at Harvard.

But even as it expands its resources for disabled students, Harvard is finding it increasingly difficult to accommodate the students' needs.

"We are short-staffed," Smith says. "We can't always do what [disabled] students want [when] their expectations exceed what is required by law."

The Rise in Disabilities

Public awareness of the rights of disabled people culminated in the Americans with Disabilities Act, which became law in 1990, the same year that the SDRC was formed. As a result, many students with disabilities who once would have been resigned to "special schools" are now finding arrangements that allow them to attend, and succeed, in regular secondary schools.

"People with more serious disabilities are [increasingly] entering mainstream institutions," Smith says. "Students in high school are getting accommodations and therefore becoming qualified to come to Harvard."

Smith cites the example of Brooke M. Ellison '00, who is a quadriplegic.

Ellison uses a voice-activated computer for assignments.

"Brooke couldn't have come to college 10 years ago," Smith says.

At the same time, Marie A. Trottier, coordinator of the programs for persons with disabilities, attributes some of the rise in disability cases to "new disabilities," such as environmental illness, multiple chemical syndrome and RSI.

"The definition of a disability has not changed," says Trottier, who directs the University's regulatory compliance office. "It's how [that definition is] applied that has [changed]."

Learning Disabilities

Of the many categories of impairment recognized by educators, learning disabilities have been the most controversial. Some educators have been unwilling to make accommodations for learning disabilities because they are not often outwardly visible.