Five sentence summary
Every student, including graduate students, should register with their disability office. It may take a long time to register and it may be painful, but you should still do it. If you run into problems later, if something changes in your life, if someone discriminates against you, being registered already will save you time and energy and may make finding solutions easier. Your office may have accommodations that were unavailable at other schools and they may know about new technology or alterations that can help you inside and outside of the classroom.
One of the first things every student should do when they arrive on campus is start investigating the Disability Office.
As a new student, you will not automatically be registered with them, and the registration process can take a long time, it can be painful, or it can be easy and quick. It depends on the university and the office. I have had great experiences with disability offices and I have had horrible experiences with them. You can ask other students what their experience has been like, but you might not know until you start the process yourself. I recommend that every student, including graduate students, register with this office for a few reasons. 1. Protect yourself
Even if you request zero accommodations during your time at school, you never know if someone will discriminate against you or if your circumstances will change and you need an accommodation. You may have a wonderful advisor who is great your first year, but your second year they start getting really picky with you. They start making fun of your inability to catch typos or they get angry you can't follow formatting instructions. You may find you don't need double time on exams your first few years because your introductory classes are all really easy, but once you take classes that have prerequisites and contain more in-depth material, you really need the double time and distraction-free environment.
If you have problems later in your academic career, you will probably start with the Disability Office. If you're not already registered, people could question whether you're really disabled or if you really need a certain accommodation (this is completely wrong and unjust, but they'll do it regardless). If you already have a relationship with this office and you're already registered with them, it's one less step you have to take if there's a problem. Rather than go through the process of registering, which can take weeks or months, you'll be able to make an appointment right away. If you have a professor who is absolutely refusing to give you an extension on an assignment or an advisor who won't let you schedule your thesis defense until every typo is fixed, you don't have this time and you probably won't have the energy either. No one enters school thinking their advisor is going to be an ableist jerk or that their professors won't believe they need an accommodation, but it happens. Hope for the best but prepare for the worst. It's better to register and never need to use this office than to not register and then kick yourself for it later. 2. New technology might exist
The second reason I suggest everyone register is because you never know what new accommodation might exist or be available that wasn't around when you were in high-school or when you attended undergrad. Larger schools have more resources so they may have the newest technology. Different disability counselors have different backgrounds and one may have more experience with your disability than those you've worked with previously.
Even if you're not taking courses, there might be technology that can help you organize all of your works cited when you're writing your thesis, or you might benefit from having a recording pen for important meetings with your committee. We don't know what we don't know. Sitting down with someone in this office and discussing the problems you've encountered before could lead to some cool tools or techniques you wouldn't have discovered. 3. Registering is the way to accommodations
For some, this reason will be the most obvious, but if you want accommodations, you will need to register with this office. Your accommodations from high-school don't transfer over automatically or anything like that. You can ask for extended time on tests and hope your professor will give it to you, but they're not required to. If you have that as an approved accommodation from the disability office, then your professor has to comply (if they don't, you have options). This office will also make it much easier to keep track of your accommodations, notify your professors, and can make managing your disability at college at lot easier. Rather than having to explain you need an extension on an assignment because you have chronic pain, it flared up for the past two weeks, and you are behind on everything, your disability coordinator could take care of this for you by contacting your professors or by including this accommodation in your documentation.
Key points:
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
Categories
All
AuthorThere's a reason theADHDAcademic is an anonymous account and there's a reason why this website will remain anonymous. That said, there are some basics it might be helpful to know about me: DISCLAIMER: I am not a medical professional or a lawyer of any kind. All text, graphics, and content on this website are for educational purposes only. Any and all content should not be substituted for medical or legal advice. Although I strive to provide the most accurate, current, and scientifically sound information, content should never be substituted for professional advice. Always consult a medical and/or legal professional before making any decisions. Links are provided only for reference and do not necessarily imply endorsement.
|