Believe me, most people would love not to have their disability -- the only "perk" I get is the parking sticker that let's me access the accessible spots. I would trade the pain, medical appointments, etc in a heartbeat if I could. But, not everyone gets the same deck of cards and while I am no means trying to use any kind of emotional ploys here, life without accommodations such as the parking sticker or academic accommodations in a marathon when you're already crawling.
e person is incapable of
learning -- just that they need that same information given to them differently
(verbally, through pictures, etc.)
Today, I would say that our society has work arounds such that text reading isn't
important as it used to be -- GPS show a moving dot and tells you which
direction to turn. People don't use maps the way maps have been used
historically. Audio is much, much more abundant than probably any time in
recorded human history.
ADHD is a neurodevelopmental disorder, meaning it is a result of differences in
brain development and function. Evidence of ADHD from a scientific standpoint at
least goes back to 18th century but there’s still not a true consensus as to when it was first documented. Studies have shown that individuals with ADHD exhibit structural and functional differences in certain brain regions compared to individuals without the disorder. For example, ADHD has been associated with decreased activity in the prefrontal cortex, a region of the brain involved in executive functions such as decision-making and impulse control.
While we can say with certainty that these disabilities are
real – proving whether or not a specific person has it or doesn’t have it is
not so clear cut. With different conditions, diagnosis criteria is largely dependent upon established research, advancing technology, and science.
 
Disabilities can be hard to verify -- at the same time we as humans are always skeptical. The question then becomes what evidence is adequate in proving or disproving a disability -- particularly one as complex as anxiety/depression/ADHD/ and other mental wellness disorders.
That said, you can have all the evidence in the world and people will still not take
you seriously.
There is a dark side to medicine that caters to whoever can pay to get a diagnosis,
prescription, etc. Human greed and the quest to get an advantage over others
has always existed. As you said, it hurts legitimate people in making it harder
to get an accommodation.
Accommodation policies aren’t universal across schools and whether an accommodation is granted/denied is entirely up to a school. They are trusting that medical professionals are using their training, skills, and expertise to make a
statement about the student using facts that were known to the medical
professional at the time. Doctors like judges are not without error – doctors can
misdiagnosis a condition or fail to detect it at all. Judges and jurors are no
different in that sometimes the innocent get punished or the guilty go free.
I have heard it said that it is better that one hundred guilty people go free
than to punish an innocent person. I think the same mentality should apply to accommodations.Every system, profession, institution, or what have you has its share of bad apples – but it’s unfair to punish legitimate people because of this.
The consequences for disability fraud in an academic setting can be severe and people do get caught – still, there is no amount of consequence that can deter somebody whose non-aversive to risk. Being that much of it is medical it’s very hard to pierce through doctor-patient confidentiality.
I do think it’s an issue and I agree with you there. In my state, you can get with
certain health insurance companies based on a claimed religion in getting a price
locked in – You agree that you are a member of that faith and you agree to abstain from behaviors that do not align with the faith. It’s all based on an honor system of sorts – even then, how religious do you have to be to call yourself a member of a particular faith? Is the person that goes to worship 5 days a week more religious than the person that only goes one day a week? Everyone faith has
clergy-parishioner confidentiality. It’s too slippery a slope to define what
religion is and is not. Religion is not nearly based in science to the extent
that disability verification is. My point is, there is never going to be a complete solution to the issue of disability fraud when it comes to accommodations.
There will always be a doctor willing to risk his license and professional livelihood
for quick money. However the myth that an accommodation some how leads to
better grades with nothing more is hysterical. You still have to be able to
demonstrate your knowledge abilities and your application of that knowledge in
developing how you got to your conclusion. At the end of the day, you either know it or you don’t. When it comes to exams, quality or quantity is what prevails.

Believe me, most people would love not to have their disability -- the only "perk" I get is the parking sticker that let's me access the accessible spots. I would trade the pain, medical appointments, etc in a heartbeat if I could. But, not everyone gets the same deck of cards and while I am no means trying to use any kind of emotional ploys here, life without accommodations such as the parking sticker or academic accommodations is a marathon when you're already crawling.