Attention college students with physical disabilities! Chris Tiedemann's book College Success for Students with Physical Disabilities will be published in 2012 by Prufrock Press. Chris is the co-founder of this website.

Chris is currently interviewing students about their experiences in preparing for, finding and attending college. It's easy to participate, just contact Chris at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and she will make arrangements to talk with you by phone or e-mail you a questionnaire.

Share your experience and make the college transition a bit easier for someone else!

One day near the end of Winter in 2005 our family attended a welcoming ceremony and luncheon for students accepted to a brand new, small religiously-affiliated college here in the South. Tom had been accepted there and offered a scholarship. Anyone who’s read this blog knows Tom wanted more than anything at that point to go away to college and the admissions officer at this school had promised to try to make that happen. He seemd to be a good person who envisioned Tom living with an non-disabled student or the school helping to work out his personal care needs in another way. The school was less than an hour from home, which his dad and I liked. But Tom had been accepted at other schools and was a long way from making his final decision.

As we sat down to lunch with the new dean of academic affairs, that gentleman began to try to talk Tom out of coming to the school. At length he admitted that was actually what he was trying to do. Schools like Edinboro and Wright State know how to do this, he said, and we have so much on our plate with opening this new school that “it’s just going to be too hard for us to do this.” For us. What does an acceptance to this school mean exactly, I finally asked. Tom has been accepted and offered a scholarship. “Right now,” said the dean, “that’s rather squishy.”

Needless to say that ended the lunch and Tom made other choices. But the look on his face was one a parent sees sometimes when an optimistic kid with disabilities encounters the real world.

This week that school encountered the real world. Financial problems forced it to close for the year on April 15. The current president says in the press that it may never reopen. The few kids who ultimately chose to go there have my sympathy. But it’s good to see the reality of a school as early as possible. Tom got a glimpse behind the façade of that institution and went elsewhere fast. He did not end up searching for a school that would accept his credits or holding a worthless diploma.

In your college search, keep looking for what you want, but keep your eyes open, too. If it seems too good to be true, it might just be. The colleges on our chart “know how to do this” as the dean said. They’re still open – and that’s a reason for optimism.