Looping Effects Inflate Student Disabilities

Universities’ accommodation systems, high‑stakes credential incentives, and the social diffusion of diagnostic models can create a self‑reinforcing loop: more diagnoses → more accommodations → lower behavioral/assessment norms in classrooms → more diagnoses. The result is a rapid rise in registered learning disabilities (ADHD, anxiety, mild ASD) that mixes genuine clinical need with structural and incentive artifacts. — If true, the phenomenon alters fairness in assessment, resource allocation in higher education, and legal definitions of disability, requiring audits, standardized diagnostic provenance, and rule‑based accommodation policies.