Welcome to the first deep-dive post of Breaking the Stigma: College Life, Disability and Mental Health! In this blog post, I will be exploring the intersectionality between mental health and disabilities, not as two separate categories but rather interconnected topics that impact the college experience. 

Why Mental Health and Disability Care Matters

To start off, it is significant to acknowledge some essential statistics that highlight the necessity of addressing mental health and disability care. In the United States, 1 in 4 adults has some type of disability, ranging from cognitive disability to independent-living disability (reference). In addition to this, people with disabilities are five times more likely to experience mental health issues than people without disabilities (reference). 

What do these statistics tell us?

1. Disabilities are more common than people think.
2. There is a strong association between disabilities and mental health challenges.

The connection between these two subjects matters particularly for college students facing a critical academic and social adjustment period, making them more vulnerable to mental distress. It is also imperative to address mental health and disability care openly in public health and social justice to eliminate stigma and ensure everyone receives the support they need. 

Common Mental Health Struggles Disabled Students Face

For this week’s blog post, I got the opportunity to attend an AG Bell event, Hearing Loss and Mental Health: A Community Conversation. The main speaker, Lesley Miller, an LCSW (based in Austin, TX), explored common mental health challenges that young adult Deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals face. Some challenges are unique to the particular community, but others can be applied universally. Here are two struggles that I have struggled with, and others might too. 

Impostor Syndrome

I remember a particular moment in my college experience where I received a nearly perfect score for a personal narrative in my Rhetorical Arts class. After hearing my classmates complain about their grades for this assignment, I thought, Wow, my hard work paid off, and he really liked my content. But then a voice sneaks into my head saying, Your professor felt bad for you due to your hearing loss, so they gave you a good grade out of pity. While I know this was not the case, the thought lingers. These negative thoughts sometimes surface when I experience academic success, resulting in internal conflict on whether I truly believe I deserve the opportunities I have had. 

This is a common occurrence for me and other college individuals with a disability, such that we experience a sense of “impostor syndrome,” which is the belief that we are not deserving of our high achievements and skills. This thinking derives from a sense of internalized ableism, where societal expectations have set that disabilities are a limitation to an individual, resulting in this philosophy becoming inserted in our self-perception. Over time, this thinking can significantly impact their mental health, leading to depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, and even burnout.

Identity Struggles

Another challenge people with disabilities face is the struggle to find a sense of belonging, which is especially difficult for individuals who may have “invisible disabilities.” These disabilities are “a physical, mental, or neurological condition that is not visible from the outside, yet can limit or challenge a person’s movements, senses, or activities” (reference). 

I recall a time when I struggled with this, during Freshman Orientation at college. We were placed into large groups and urged to share and get to know each other. But for me, due to my hearing loss, the loud and chaotic environment made it extremely difficult to hear or understand most of the conversations. And since the other students are not usually aware of my disability, I get stuck in an isolating and awkward position, unable to fully engage in the conversation. The communication barrier made it a struggle to make friends during orientation, when it appeared to be making genuine connections. 

These identity struggles are predominantly present during college, where the social experience relies on friend groups and finding yourself. Therefore, people with disabilities have another emotional layer that they have to tackle before they can find these groups, especially when surrounded predominantly by people without disabilities. If people with disabilities are unable to address and resolve these identity struggles, like Lesley Miller said, they fall into social isolation that can be extremely dangerous and can ultimately lead to depression and anxiety. 

What Can We Do?

At the event, Lesley Miller also discussed solutions to resolve these challenges. Some things she recommended were…

1. Self-Compassion: treat yourself how you would treat your best friends!
2. Self-Care: Recognize your needs!
3. Center Life Around Meaning: Find a community or hobbies you enjoy!

And if the mental distress ever stops your ability to engage in life activities or you are engaging in harmful coping mechanisms, you can always seek professional help. Lesley Miller also recommended these two inclusive websites to help find support if needed: inclusivetherapists.com and Psychologytoday.com. 

While there are individual solutions that people with disabilities can do to help manage these challenges, having a public health system that can support them would make managing these challenges a lot easier. Especially in the college stage of life, with the combination of coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, we must create accessible resources and eliminate the stigma around mental health and disability care. 

Conclusion

Thank you so much for stopping by and reading this blog post. I hope you leave with a new insight you didn’t have before. Stay tuned for next week’s blog post about Resources at College for Disabilities and Mental Health.