By Kenna Jenkins, October 27, 2026
A Cal Poly Pomona student took to social media after the Disability Resource Center denied her accommodation request.
Lani Dinh, a business administration student in her first semester at CPP, posted on TikTok and Instagram about how a DRC employee told her certain accommodations could not be provided because she was “well-articulated and well-spoken.” Dinh also said the employee told her allowing her to use a notecard on a quiz or exam would be unfair to other students unless she could prove she had “real brain damage” or a “real disability.”
According to the DRC website, college students must advocate for themselves, while K-12 students can have parental support during the accommodation process. The website said universities follow the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, which was designed to ensure access, while the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which covers K-12, is designed to promote success.
Because of a stroke she had when she was 10 years old, Dinh said she experiences memory issues, such as difficulty with long-term memory retention or brain fog. Dinh said the stroke also caused the left side of her body to become weaker, making her movements slower and leading to body stiffness and random pain.
In high school, Dinh said she had accommodations such as longer passing periods due to her leg brace and body weakness, extra excused absences for doctor’s appointments and permission to use a notecard during exams due to her memory issues.
“Whatever I’m learning from week to week, it’s very easy for it to slip out of my memory,” Dinh said. “That will show up in ways like I will forget certain random papers or assignments, even though I have the capability to do them. I will randomly forget that they’re there. Also, I will randomly forget where certain classes are, even if I’ve been going for a few weeks.”
The video she posted on her TikTok and Instagram pages about her experience has more than 350,000 likes across both platforms as of this article’s publication. Dinh has more than 230,000 followers on TikTok and about 185,000 on Instagram.
Andrea Reyes, associate director of the DRC, said the DRC offers a memory aid accommodation, allowing students to have specific information during exams. However, the information on the memory aid must be approved by the faculty member teaching the course before its usage.
In the comment sections, more students from CPP and other universities across the country shared similar experiences when advocating for themselves regarding their disabilities.
“It was really validating on one hand because I saw that so many people had gone through the same thing,” Dinh said.
Reyes said if students want to change or add accommodations, they are welcome to reach out to the DRC. If they have any problems with the specialist they’re working with, they can reach out to her or Staci Gunner, the assistant dean of students overseeing the DRC.
Reyes said students with disabilities seeking accommodations through the DRC first must fill out a form on its website, which requests information such as their diagnosis, accommodation request and any documentation the student wants to provide.
“It’s really the interactive conversation piece, the supporting documentation and understanding how their requests are being vetted through,” Reyes said. “The DRC specialist has the education and knowledge.”
After that form is processed, Reyes said students attend an hour-long intake appointment, either on Zoom or in person, where they speak to a DRC employee to finalize accommodations. Students are then matched with an access specialist, she said.
Dinh transferred from Mt. San Antonio College and said the staff at its DRC provided a more positive experience, even when she got her notecard accommodation taken away there, too. Dinh said the staff at Mt. SAC were open to giving her more accommodations, even if she was already working hard to avoid using them.
Dinh said the DRC employee she spoke with at CPP seemed dismissive, to the point where Dinh said it felt like they were trying to take away as many accommodations as possible.
Dinh said she only posted about her experience to get it off her chest after seeing similar situations happen to friends and colleagues. Dinh said she started making content during the pandemic while she was in high school, primarily posting makeup and fashion content and, occasionally speaking about her experiences with having a disability.
Kem Drayer, a biochemistry student, said myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome and postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, make regaining energy and standing for long periods of time during his labs difficult.
Due to his disabilities, Drayer said he requested to have his classes, excluding labs, streamed through Zoom in case he couldn’t physically make it to class. Drayer said he was then told it wasn’t an official accommodation but rather a part of the existing infrastructure.
When he asked the DRC about having a Zoom class set up as an accommodation, Drayer said they told him they couldn’t because it would make his experience too different from other students’. Drayer said the denial didn’t make any sense to him since his experience was going to be different regardless because he uses a wheelchair.
“I think that just the amount of recovery time that I have without extra accommodations is not really enough for me to continue to be a consistently good student,” Drayer said.
According to Reyes, while the DRC does offer a note-taking technology accommodation, through the application Genio, it does not offer lecture recordings or the option to attend class over Zoom as an accommodation if a student cannot attend in person.
Reyes said the DRC does have a modified attendance accommodation, which can allow a student to attend remotely if the course material and location allow it. The DRC works with the student and the faculty member teaching the class to determine the number of excused absences and tardies can be given, which is something that can be revisited later in the semester.
Drayer said he’s advocated for himself minus the supporting documentation from doctor’s notes. Even with the available accommodations, Drayer said it can be a lot of work checking with all his teachers every semester to make sure modified attendance is allowed.
“I am struggling because I have to do a bunch of extra steps to get needs,” Drayer said, “when I feel like these steps should instead be taken by the institution itself rather than putting more work on the student.”
