Should I tell my university?

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Yeah, I know this topic has been done to death, but one more time can't hurt (much).

So, I'm going off to the University of Miami next year and wondering if I should tell them about AS in order to request accommodations. I haven't had any accommodations at all for a long time because my school made me drop my IEP and ALL accommodations to be allowed into the gifted program. A flagrant violation of the ADA, but also a story for another time.

Anyways, Miami does offer some services I think could be helpful to me. They offer note-taking, and I've never been able to take notes in my life. I just can't write fast enough, and besides can't divide my attention in that manner, so I've always just done without any notes. This might not be as easy to pull off in college as it was in high school.

They also might allow me to type written assignments, which certainly would be merciful towards my professors for not having to decipher my handwriting. Also, I find it physically painful to write for too long, as happened earlier today with a short answer test in English and more free-response questions than usual on my Physics test. My hand hurt at the end of the day, and still did for most of the afternoon.

Also, they offer "distraction-reduced" testing environments (that could be big, my chem teacher even recommended that I look into that after seeing me struggle in his noisy classroom, and that was only 13 kids). This could be an issue since the genetics course I'll likely be taking is a giant lecture with up to about 200 students in it. I have no idea what testing for that class would be like, and I'm not really sure I want to find out. Noisy test rooms have caused me trouble this year, in calculus and in AP Chem.

However, I have gotten along pretty well without any special accommodations for a long time, and I don't want to take undue advantage. I mean, I'm coming in as one of the top 50 or so entering freshmen, and here I am asking them to have someone else take notes for me? I'm not concerned so much about any negative effects of telling them; I don't care if the school knows, but I'm wondering if it really is fair for me to use all of these services when I haven't seemed to need them before.

What does everyone out there think? Has anyone had negative experiences with disability services programs that I should know about before disclosing my AS?

Yes and you need documentation which is the general rule for all universities.

Oh, documentation shouldn't be much of an issue. I know that I can get access to these services, I'm just wondering if it's a good idea.

You should at least get the special testing room accommodation, because in every college class I've taken (except for Chinese), tests are worth over 70% of your grade.

I'm in the process of registering with disability services at my school for AS. I don't know about the University of Miami, but at my school, I discovered:

-Registering is a long, drawn-out process, even if you can easily provide documentation, because of the bureaucracy involved.

-You must register in order to have the option of requesting accommodations or services, but you don't have to request anything just because you registered.

-Disability Services cannot share your information with anyone. (I think this is a national law.) It is the student's responsibility to tell faculty, staff, and other students about their diagnosis if they want to. (This is called "self-disclosing".)

-You can request accommodations without self-disclosing. The professor will get the request for the accommodation from Disability Services without being told why. The reason why is none of their business.

-In addition to accommodations, students who register with Disability Services get access to certain services like free specialized counseling.

I hope this helps.

I would do it. I am going to do it.

Anyone with half a brain will understand what you just told us: HS was easier. It's just the facts of life. College is far harder than high school, its a different setting, so, I would take advantage of every oppertunity they are willing to give you. Then, after a semester or two, you can sit back and see how you've done. Have you managed to pass all your classes with flying colours? Then maybe you don't need as much accomadation.

But honestly, I would get all the help you can, because by the time you really realise you're in over your head, it'll be far to late to fix it, and you'll have a whole semseter down the drain, which does nothing to help your stress levels.

edit: oops, double post

Last edited by wolphin on 29 Apr 2008, 5:40 am, edited 1 time in total.

I did it, and basically it saved me this quarter when I started to have trouble. It is _much_ easier to go to them in mid quarter and they have all your documentation already filed and reviewed and everything, than trying to sort everything out then.

So unless you have some weird compelling reason not to tell them, it's probably for the best.

Thanks for the advice guys. I think that what I'll do is go ahead and get my documentation in and have my accommodations approved (probably note-taking and quiet testing room) and then talk to professors individually about how testing arrangements are for their class, so it probably wouldn't be necessary to actually use that for every single class. Note-taking I'll almost certainly use, especially for the larger lecture courses. Separate test room I think I'll only use if I think it would be a problem in that particular class. I'm not going to ask for permission to use a word-processor, since I'm not really taking any writing-intensive courses and anyways Miami is extremely strict on that (moreso even than getting extra time for exams). If I ever do take writing classes, I might look closer into that.

Kip, I was wondering about your comment that I should get all the accommodations that I can, and then have fewer if I'm doing well. Should doing well mean you need less accommodation?

Actually, it's probably easier since most of the professors use power-point nowadays and just post them on the internet.

I get along without them anyway.

I am at Stanford. I am registered with our Disabilities Center. I get:
1 1/2 time on tests
keyboard for notetaking and testtaking
calculator for any math (I can do calculus, just can't reliably do basic arithmetic)
hearing assistive device (to help drown out distracting noises or weird acoustics)
and a notetaker.
and my tests are all in a room without distractions.

It makes a difference. What our school does is: every quarter, a letter goes to each teacher explaining my accommodations. I may or may not utilize every one (for example, a small room with good acoustics, I may not need to hearing device). A class that doesn't have any arithmetic - I don't need the calculator.

Basically, accommodations are there to make it possible for you to show your knowledge and abilities without being inhibited by your disabilities. It's not unfair to other students who don't need accommodations - anymore than someone using a wheelchair is unfair to the students who have to walk.

I don't do great on every class - the accommodations don't "fix everything" or make me smarter than other students or better at some things I'm just not good at, they just make it possible for me to "compete" from a similar starting level. Any A you get is because of talent and hard work, not because of accommodations.

Don't rely on them to post the slides. Some do, some don't. You have to ask out loud each professor to find out at the beginning of the quarter.

Well, if you think it will help and it's supported by your documentation, then you should ask for it. At almost all schools I know about, word processors are considered a legitimate accommodation, so Miami would be hard-pressed to argue you can't use them.



Doing well doesn't necessarily mean that. If you would do well regardless of the accommodations, then sure, you don't have to ask for them if you don't want. But if the accommodations help you do well (or at least reduce your stress level), then doing well is exactly what the accommodations are for. The whole point of them is to allow you to compete on an equal playing field and do as well as you possibly can.



Wow, Stanford, neat! I have a lot of respect for stanford, it's the only other place I would have considered going to besides the school I go to now. I might apply there for grad school, though.



Same here - I've even taken some graduate level math classes but I still manage to mess up addition a lot.

I don't have dyscalculia or anything like that, though, so I don't get (or need/want) any accommodations like calculator. Most higher level math, it doesn't matter so much anyways.

Maybe, but I don't know if I want to necessarily take advantage of every single thing I can get. I could probably get 1 1/2 time for exams, but I honestly don't struggle with timed tests any more than other people, so that would be an unfair advantage. Anyways, I'm not taking any writing-intensive courses, so it shouldn't be a huge issue.

I would go for it simply for the testing room.... especially if you have problems in a class of 13...

A class of 200 people taking a test is loud... more so than you would think... papers twitching... shifting in seats... people getting up and leaving for the last half an hour when they are done.... even if you don't use all the services that you can get... at least register, see what they offer...

oh and this isn't like high school, you will have to tell them what services you want/need.... usually they don't just offer up "oh you can do this this and this" no, you have to have documentation of disability (my school within 5 years) and a list of what services you are requesting (that you provide). University of West Florida

The problems with the class of 13 was because of issues with specific people in the class, who continued fairly loud conversations DURING the test. But yeah, I think I will most likely try to avoid taking tests in a room of 200 if I can. And yeah, I know it's not like high school- mainly in that it will be possible for me to get accommodations. Wasn't an option at my school. When I was younger, I had to be taken off IEP to be in the gifted program, and then later (once I was officially diagnosed) they rejected any notions of accommodations out of hand because I'm at the top of my class. Anyways, my only documentation is within the past year, so that should be fine.