Unseen, Unheard, Unsupported: The Reality of Students with Invisible Disabilities

Reporter: Baylie Mankee

PHOENIX – For students with invisible disabilities, college often brings overlapping challenges that go unnoticed to the public eye, making their day-to-day lives significantly more difficult. 

The Invisible Disabilities Association defines invisible disabilities as “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.” 

This can range from mental illnesses such as depression, attention deficit disorder, and anxiety, to cancer, brain injuries, fibromyalgia, and epilepsy. However, research also finds that college students with invisible disabilities are more likely to have additional health problems than their non-disabled peers. 

According to an article conducted by Indiana University Bloomington, young adults with autism are found to have lower activity levels and higher rates of chronic illnesses, and college students with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder are more likely to engage in drug and alcohol use and report higher rates of depression and anxiety. 

Similarly, studies also show that many people with invisible disabilities feel like others often question how they act, behave, or live their lives. Many also reported exhaustion from constantly having to teach or explain their needs and accommodations. 

For many students, that exhaustion is increased by the pressure to keep their disabilities hidden. Several said that even when help is available, they avoid asking for accommodations out of fear of judgment, stigma, or simply not wanting to be treated differently. 

Megan Clark, a nursing student at the University of Arizona, has attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). She said most people misunderstand what ADHD actually looks like in college. 

“People often think ADHD just means having trouble paying attention, but it's really about inconsistent attention that makes starting tasks feel way harder than it looks,” Clark said. 

She added that managing schoolwork and motivation can be “tiring”, especially in a demanding health program. 

Clark doesn’t use disability accommodations, despite knowing they’re available. “Sometimes it feels easier to just push through without them,” she said. 

Her experiences reflect a trend in higher education: students with invisible disabilities often struggle rather than identify themselves to their peers and schools. 

For others, those silent challenges collide with additional pressure, especially in athletics. Claire Basaldua, a freshman student-athlete at Suffolk University who has obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), said her mental health often clashes with the rigid schedules and expectations of college sports.

“Sometimes I’ll get super irritable because of it,” she said. “My OCD causes me to pick at my eyebrows… It’s created a huge battle with my mental health because I have low self-esteem after picking at them, but the stresses of being a student athlete make it hard to stop.” 

Basaldua also struggles with perfectionism, something she says her sport has intensified. 

“If the work I do in the classroom isn’t perfect, then I just feel inadequate and lose motivation to do anything at all,” she said. 

Like Clark, she also avoids asking for help. 

“I think there’s a stigma that athletes who need help with their mental health don’t have the mentality it takes to be competitive,” she said. 

Invisible disabilities also include chronic physical conditions that others might not recognize. Leonie Prince, a University of Arizona student with diabetes, described managing her disability as a “constant balancing act” throughout her school day. 

“What people don’t see is how much thinking and planning go into every hour,” she said. 

Even though she looks fine externally, she’s often dealing with low blood sugar, shakiness, and the fear of a crash during class. 

Despite these challenges, Prince also does not use formal accommodations. 

“There’s a part of me that doesn’t love the idea of having to go through paperwork and appointments to ‘prove’ what I deal with every day,” she said. 

Instead, she quietly advocates for herself when an issue arises, another example of the unseen labor invisible disabilities require. 

Their experiences illustrate a common thread across campuses. The students who need support the most are often the least likely to ask for it. Whether out of stigma, fear, judgment, or exhaustion from explaining themselves, many choose to cope in silence.