Thread by @DisInHigherEd

Anonymous Story #7 - How are you?

We will be posting this story as a thread below but if you'd prefer to read it as a blog you can do that [blog post] disabledinhighered.weebly.com/blog/how-are-y… (1/8)

#DisabledInHigherEd #DEHEM21 #DisInHigherEd

CW: mentions of anorexia

I dropped out of my undergraduate degree in engineering (returned 3 years later to finish it) due to severe depression.

I was on antidepressants and attending counselling, but we hadn't yet found the right combination that worked. (2/8)

CW: mentions of anorexia

It was my last semester and I simply could not muster the energy to finish it. In addition to struggling with depression, I was dealing with extreme pain from endometriosis and was in recovery from anorexia nervosa. (3/8)

I was also struggling with an undiagnosed periodic limb movement disorder that left me extremely fatigued. Many days I couldn't even find the energy to get out of bed or to attend my counselling sessions. I ended up having to pay a lot of money for those missed sessions. (4/8)

In my degree, I dropped down to 1 course & passed it with the lowest mark on my transcript. None of my professors asked how I was doing. The 1 professor in the one course that I kept (but I missed lots of class due to depression) never checked in on me to see what was going on 5/

Once I found the right medication and the right counsellor, I was able to recover and return to finish my degree. I am now a PhD candidate in a different field. (6/8)

If I had had more support or understanding on depression, maybe I would have been able to finish my engineering degree that last semester. There is such a stigma around mental health, we need to work at being more accepting of mental health challenges in higher ed. (7/8)

We thank the anonymous author for sharing their story. (8/8)