Why Disability Inclusion in MBA Programs Needed a Rethink

Business school is designed to challenge you intellectually, socially, and professionally. But for students with disabilities, those challenges are often compounded by systemic gaps in accessibility, support, and representation.

In the summer of 2024, Seiver began reaching out to other MBA disability organization leaders across the country. She wanted to know: Were we all facing the same barriers? The answer was a resounding yes. The community she found during that outreach formed the MBA Disability Network, a coalition of students from eight schools — Darden, Ross, Wharton, Haas, Johnson, Harvard, Stanford, and Kenan-Flagler, committed to advancing disability inclusion in business education.

Five Recurring Gaps in MBA Disability Inclusion

Through our community’s conversations and a formal Darden case study, Seiver and a classmate identified five recurring gaps that continue to hinder inclusion across top MBA programs:

1. A disconnect between university-wide disability services and business school realities
   • Accommodations are often delayed, poorly communicated, or inconsistently implemented, especially when business school faculty lack training or support.
2. Limited individualized support at the business school level
   • Most schools rely on centralized disability offices, but few have embedded staff who understand the unique demands of MBA programs.
3. Inaccessible social and networking environments
   • From high-top tables to loud, crowded events, many core aspects of the MBA experience unintentionally exclude students with mobility, sensory, or social disabilities.
4. Entrenched recruiting norms that disadvantage disabled candidates
   • Career services often operate on a self-advocacy model, and few recruiting events offer clear accessibility information or accommodations.
5. A lack of continuity and institutional memory in student-led disability efforts
   • Without formal support structures, many disability clubs dissolve after a single class year, making it hard to build lasting change.

These gaps aren’t just logistical. They’re cultural. They send a message, often unintentionally, that disability is an afterthought in business education.

The Cultural Dimension of Exclusion

How Logistical Gaps Create Exclusionary Norms

When accommodations are inconsistent, or events are inaccessible, the implicit message is clear: disability inclusion is secondary. This fosters a culture where students with disabilities feel like outsiders rather than equal participants.

Disability as an Afterthought in Business Education

From the design of recruitment events to the structure of case studies, disability rarely appears in the conversation. This omission sends a powerful signal about what — and who — business schools value.

Founding Enable MBA

The gaps were clear. Across top MBA programs, students with disabilities were navigating inaccessible classrooms, inconsistent accommodations, and exclusionary recruiting practices, often without institutional support or community. These weren’t isolated issues. They were systemic.

But what if we could build something bigger?

After a summer internship in real estate design and development, Seiver’s mentors encouraged her to keep going with the work she had started at Darden. With their encouragement, she shared her vision for a national scale organization with the MBA Disability Network — the coalition of eight schools that had been meeting quarterly to share strategies and support one another. She proposed building a national platform for disability inclusion in business education — picking up the baton from Empwr MBA and expanding its mission.

Francesca Colombo (Michigan Ross) and Edwin Portugal (Wharton) were immediately on board. Together, we co-founded Enable MBA, a nonprofit dedicated to advancing disability inclusion in leadership pipelines.

Our Mission

Enable MBA’s mission is to empower individuals with disabilities to:

• Access business education without barriers
• Grow as leaders with mentorship and guidance
• Build meaningful careers through advocacy and community

We believe in creating change that is scalable, sustainable, and systemic.

What We Do

Enable MBA connects MBA students with disabilities to:

• Mentorship from professionals who’ve navigated similar paths
• Recruiting support tailored to the realities of disability disclosure and accommodation
• Peer community that spans schools, industries, and identities

We also partner with business schools and employers to drive institutional change from inclusive recruiting practices to universal design in the classroom.

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Why Disability Inclusion Strengthens Business Education

Enhancing Leadership Diversity

Business schools claim to train future leaders. Excluding disabled voices from that pipeline means missing perspectives that reflect a significant portion of the global population.

Building Empathetic and Inclusive Managers

Students who learn in inclusive environments are better equipped to lead diverse teams. Accessibility fosters empathy, resilience, and creative problem-solving — skills invaluable in the corporate world.

Preparing for Accessibility in the Corporate World

Global companies are increasingly committed to corporate accessibility standards. MBA programs that fail to model inclusion risk leaving graduates unprepared for modern business leadership.

Why Enable MBA Matters

Enable MBA isn’t just a network. It’s a platform for change built by students, for students, and designed to last.

We are reimagining what business education can look like when inclusion, equity, and accessibility are at its core — and we invite students, schools, and employers to join us in building that future.