For many students, impairments such as chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS)/ myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), epilepsy or diabetes have the potential to vary in intensity, and thus impact, on participation in learning activities and on self-perception/ identity. This paper considers some of the factors which may be of influence on the ways in which students with such fluctuating or recurring impairments enact identity within Higher Education in the UK. In particular, it highlights the potential role of Higher Education discourses based on notions of consistency and conformity in constructing disablement in finite ways. It also reviews the potential for reflexive use of communication technologies in offering students ways of promoting or masking selected aspects of identity. The paper concludes with some insights into possibilities for the use of online communication modes in offering flexibility and autonomy in managing student identity and challenging of institutional discourses of disability as fixed or finite.