The Power of Belonging: Education Minor Varsha Gaddipati’s Mission to Support Peers With Disabilities

For many disabled students, navigating higher education is about more than academics—it’s about finding a sense of belonging in an environment that often overlooks their needs. UC Davis undergraduate student Varsha Gaddipati is determined to change that. She is launching a study on disabled students’ sense of belonging across four UC campuses: Davis, Merced, Berkeley, and Santa Cruz. A psychology major and education minor who will graduate at the end of the 2025 winter quarter, Gaddipati aims to understand how disability services can strengthen community among disabled students, increase their sense of belonging, and ultimately contribute to academic and professional success.

“A sense of belonging reduces isolation,” Gaddipati said. “Many disabled students leave home, live on campus, and face new challenges while being away from their support systems. Helping them build a new support network is crucial.”

An Interdisciplinary Collaboration
Gaddipati first became interested in examining disability services when she transferred to UC Davis from Santa Cruz. “I realized that Davis has a variety of disabled student programs, and the availability of resources differs between UC campuses,” she said. “We would be remiss not to analyze that availability and see how it supports students.”

When she sought out faculty or a department that could provide research on UC-specific disability services, Gaddipati quickly realized that there was a gap in information available on campus and in the field of disability studies. Determined to learn more, she sought out the School of Education where Prof. Laurel Towers offered an EDU course on disability education. This provided the resources Gaddipati had been searching for. “I started thinking about my experience as a disabled student and how that could be improved. What was helping me and what wasn’t? How could that research be done? I realized how much I loved the field of education to address these questions, and that I wanted to go further in it.” 

She approached Towers about conducting independent research and asked for recommendations on faculty she could consult about her project. Towers connected her with Dr. Lauren Lindstrom, a professor at the School of Education and an associated faculty member at the UC Davis MIND Institute who specializes in autism, developmental disabilities, special education, and transition services for youth with disabilities. Together, they refined Gaddipati’s research focus to examine the relationship between disability services and students’ sense of belonging on UC campuses.

“Varsha was interested in the intersection of disability and identity and how they shape a student’s experience in higher education,” said Lindstrom. “We narrowed it down to how disabled student programming fosters disability identity, which then enhances a sense of belonging and, ultimately, academic achievement. It took time to define our research, but we found our direction.”

Starting Spring 2025, Gaddipati and Lindstrom will conduct the Disabled Undergraduates’ Sense of Belonging (DUSOB) study through a survey designed for up to 150 participants across the four UC campuses. They will then conduct follow-up interviews with select participants to gather more in-depth perspectives.

The Impact of Isolation
Through refining her study and securing funding, Gaddipati has gained a new appreciation for her abilities as a researcher. “At first, it was overwhelming because I thought, ‘I’m not good enough to be doing this,’” she said, “but I had to push past those doubts. It’s been an interesting journey to realize how much I can contribute and how valuable my work is.”

As a student who uses a wheelchair or cane to get around campus, Gaddipati frequently encounters physical barriers that affect her classroom engagement. “I feel like I have to stifle part of my disability and identity to fit into a classroom setting—and to be more palatable to others,” she said. While she advocates for more accessible facilities, adaptive furniture, and disability programming education, Gaddipati also emphasizes that small changes can also make a significant difference. For example, she points out that fixing the many faulty handicap push buttons she encounters on campus would instantly simplify daily routines for many disabled students.

Despite these challenges, Gaddipati values her experiences at UC Davis and Santa Cruz. “I want to see more people like me on this campus,” she said. “That’s why my research matters. “I’ve been able to find community by hanging around the disability center. But I’d love to see that expand more, and I’d love to meet more disabled students. I want to meet more people who are going through some of the same things I am.”

Strengthening Community On and Off Campus
In addition to organizing the DUSOB study and finishing her coursework, Gaddipati is preparing to attend Vanderbilt University in Fall 2025, where she will pursue a master’s degree in education and her Child Life Certification. She is committed to supporting children who have technology-dependent, medically complex disabilities that regularly require hospital care.

“Hospitals can be stressful and traumatic environments for children and their families,” she said. “Child Life Specialists help children self-advocate, learn coping skills, and navigate their medical experiences. They teach essential skills like swallowing pills, taking medications, and communicating their needs to parents.”

Even as a full-time master’s student, Gaddipati plans to continue expanding her research on disability programming in higher education. She and Lindstrom are invested in broadening their study beyond the University of California system, a project that Lindstrom hopes will eventually bring Gaddipati back to UC Davis for a doctorate.

“To find a gap in what’s known about disability services, and to be able to contribute toward people’s learning experiences: that is beautiful,” said Gaddipati. “It feels nice to be a disabled undergraduate who’s giving back to other disabled undergraduates, because there are so many people that came before me who did it too.”