School Disability Accommodation

[TTC18]

@joeylittle No, I can take as many breaks as I like. No need to take classes this semester.

Thing is - I've known this stuff about myself for a long time. I know I struggle with even TALKING to people. So since I was a kid I would force myself to talk to people. I'm the person who strikes up a conversation with the cashier in the grocery store. Who says, 'I love your hair!' when I see someone with pretty hair. Who says, 'Oh what a sweet puppy!' when I see someone with a cute puppy.

Because if I stop forcing myself to talk to people I'll just never talk to anyone and I don't want the silence to win. But I've been doing that for so many years - I'm in my 40s now - and I'm not winning... I'm just not letting the silence win. It's like endless tug-of-war and I'm not letting my rope go, but I'm not making any progress either.

 

[IceQueencop]

Ha! A guardian angel would be awesome! But seriously, paraprofessional are regularly assigned to assist students, at a graduate level it may be appropriate to have a peer assigned, or a student in another program, maybe education, pre-law or law school to assist you.
A letter from your doc saying something like Joeylittle described, “Tryingtocope suffers from cognitive distortions due to PTSD, and requires assistance when working in groups.”
You can make it easier on your accommodations office by seeking assistance from the other program in advance. The other student may be able to get credits for their effort, which means the school can charge them for the opportunity, and they get to put it on their resume, plus you have educated more people about how awful PTSD is.
The other option is to try to always get the first assignment in the group so you don’t have to wait for others.

Don’t give up advocating for your needs.

Best,
IQC

 

[Nessa7]

Ha! A guardian angel would be awesome! But seriously, paraprofessional are regularly assigned to assist students, at a graduate level it may be appropriate to have a peer assigned, or a student in another program, maybe education, pre-law or law school to assist you.

just chiming in to say that I have seen this done at the graduate level in an online setting for students with mental illnesses.

 

[Scarlet13]

Hi,
I have not read all the responses yet, so sorry if this is redundant.

You worked with a crappy administrator. Is this a teacher or disabilities counselor?

1. He sounds invalidating.
2. His main priority should be to let YOU guide your accomodations.
3. His other goal should be to KEEP you in school.
4. What you proposed sounds extremely reasonable to me. Can you get a letter emphasizing this plan to stabalize on meds and get a group work break from your doctor?
5. I would not drop out of school. Can you self advocate with the teacher? Can you tolerate groups as you adjust?
Is there a med you could take during the adjustment period?

I would go to his boss. As a person with disabilities, that sounds very much like a crappy response. You had a great plan which should have been supported.

It isn't like you were saying you couldn't do group work period. Isn't med adjustments typically 6 weeks?

It sounds like he was using implicite bias towards mental illness with you and that is not ok.

 

[EveHarrington]

Hi,
I have not read all the responses yet, so sorry if this is redundant.

You worked with a crappy administrator. Is this a teacher or disabilities counselor?

1. He sounds invalidating.
2. His main priority should be to let YOU guide your accomodations.
3. His other goal should be to KEEP you in school.
4. What you proposed sounds extremely reasonable to me. Can you get a letter emphasizing this plan to stabalize on meds and get a group work break from your doctor?
5. I would not drop out of school. Can you self advocate with the teacher? Can you tolerate groups as you adjust?
Is there a med you could take during the adjustment period?

I would go to his boss. As a person with disabilities, that sounds very much like a crappy response. You had a great plan which should have been supported.

It isn't like you were saying you couldn't do group work period. Isn't med adjustments typically 6 weeks?

It sounds like he was using implicite bias towards mental illness with you and that is not ok.

No group work is not a valid accommodation.

Students cannot request any demand they so desire. Only legitimate accommodations are permitted.

The OP is switching around to multiple meds for the first time and we all know it takes time to find something that works, not just 6 weeks.

 

[Scarlet13]

It can take 6 weeks to get the full effect of the med, so that could potentially be the right med and not take too long to feel stable.
But, I agree, it could take much longer to get the right med, right dosage ect.
I can't take anything and just doing med trials made me worse.
I think no group could be reasonable from teacher to teacher.
This is an accomodation that could be asked for with the individual teacher and maybe it would work, maybe not.
It is a well known practice among educators to allow students to work on their own, as an option, but this would not be an option if the curricular goal was collaboration, so this is very much a class by class, teacher by teacher accomadation and the disabilities office couldn't really help.
I have 2 disabilities in addition to PTSD.
I have asked to work alone on projects before in my MA program. I have a visual disability and ADHD and in some work it was easier.
I approached this with the individual teacher and asked if it could be an option and sometimes it was ok and sometimes not. It depends on the class and subject and the professor's goals.