Thread by @DisInHigherEd

Anonymous Story #19 - Not disabled enough?

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/pandemic-…
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#DisabledInHigherEd #DEHEM21 #DisInHigherEd

I'm currently on my second try at finishing undergrad after having to drop out due to my accommodations not being met. Not surprisingly, I might have to drop out again. 2/

On my first attempt at college, my autoimmune disorder developed in ways I had never dealt with and at the time that typically required me being very close to a bathroom, meds, ice packs and heating pads. 3/

I had a doctor who had no idea what to do for me aside from suggesting accommodations to attend class remotely. I brought those accommodations to my University's disability centre 4/

And I was told that we could request extra absences and the availability of notes and PowerPoints, but it was ultimately up to professors. I followed their instructions with accepting the "good enough" accommodations and submitted them to my professors. 5/

But then I had one professor outright deny any accommodations beyond a note-taker in class. They said if I couldn't come to class, I wouldn't get my points for participation and attendance which was 30% of the grade. 6/

I went back to the centre and they basically told me there was nothing they could do. I received my first ever F in a class despite doing all the work and tests because I couldn't be there in person. 7/

This became a common theme that led me to unenroll so I wouldn't end up flunking out. I decided to re-enrol when I saw that the pandemic made everything remote, the exact accommodation I had tried to fight for in 2017. 8/

Got straight A's with my accomodations being met. Now it's fall of 2021 and I'm being pushed back to in-person and I already have had to miss some days. The student disability centre says I'm not disabled enough to qualify for continued remote accommodations, 9/

so I'm sitting in packed classrooms hoping I don't catch it. I've heard through the grapevine less than 100 students here have been granted remote accommodations through a rigorous process of jumping through hoops. 10/

The final say comes from a committee of people who are not doctors, don't know me, don't speak to me or my doctor who signed in agreement that I need this, simply look at what evidence I could build. 11/

Fingers crossed I can get through 1 last academic year like this because once I'm done I'm never coming back to the sad excuse for a school that loves to pride itself on being diverse & welcoming.
_
Thank you to the anonymous author for sharing their story. /Fin
#AcademicAbleism