uni dispensation

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Hello there, I finally got my official diagnosis (yay!) and I was wondering if I could get any kind of dispensation at uni for doing presentations. It is a part of my course to do these things, but I thought (hoped) there is something I could do instead as I usually nearly spontaniously combust at least 4 weeks before the event from anxiety.

Also, does anyone have any advise on how I would tell my uni that I have aspergers (as I am starting my 3rd year and have obviously been able to cope before) and if there is a downside to informing them.

Thanks

I also was not diagnosed until my third year. I did not inform the university disability service until well into my post-grad study. I found that individual negotiation with my lecturers was a pretty good way to work through things. I do recommend informing the uni disability service, if they are any good, as it gives you support (not much though) to fall back on if necessary.

It would depend on where you go to school as to what their policy is. Try searching "disability" on their website. I haven't personally, my school needs you to bring doctors reports about what you have trouble with to a confidential interview with a disability advisor and I'm not being treated by a doctor for my AS. Also generally I don't really need accommodations and extensions, and if I do it;s for unexpected life events that most lecturers are sympathetic to whether you have a disability or not.

I suppose it would depend on the school. My school seems pretty strict. You cannot get a particular accommodation unless it is explicity discussed by the diagnostician somewhere in the signed paperwork provided. That being said, I had an appointment yesterday with my office (I am currently enrolled in a 4th year seminar course), and we were discussing what to write to my prof in regards to accommodation. My doctor specifically requested that I do not have to be forced to do presentations, so if I wanted to get out of it I could. In my case, I asked to just be evaluated on the quality of my research rather than my verbal and eye contact abilities (since the presentation is worth so much, and it is a group project). I had no problem getting this accommodation made (and would have had no problem finding an alternative project if need be--but seeing as how my course is only two weeks and half of it is gone, I don't really have time for that).

You shouldn't have too much trouble getting the accommodations, but if your school is like mine, you will not get these accommodations without documentation specifically addressing the issues you have related to that request.

In response to this:

When I first told my university in March, I took in the paperwork which has to include the date of diagnosis. That spoke for itself, so it is no big deal. A lot of people are not diagnosed until adults. At my school, they casually asked why I had not asked for accommodation before. I told them I couldn't because I did not have the diagnosis and the paperwork (you can request accommodation all you want, if you don't have the paperwork, they cannot give it to you--otherwise every one would be looking for extensions and small exam rooms, etc). I had no problems at all, although I did find my particular university took my autism diagnosis more seriously than my aspergers diagnosis (I was re-diagnosed with autism in July), but either way, I basically got what I wanted. I very well could be mis-interpreting things, but that is how I felt.

Last semester I was taking a transfer class at another university as well, and I had to go into their office also in order to get a small exam room. The lady I spoke with in the meeting was very nice about it. She did say, "you are just getting your diagnosis NOW at age 26? I have only known you for 10 minutes, I can already tell--I cannot believe it took them more than 20 years to figure it out." I don't think she meant that in a bad way, just that she understood where I was coming from, and was sympathetic toward me for living so long without a diagnosis when I clearly should have had one long ago. She was actually very nice to me (even with the aspergers diagnosis--nicer than my own school was), and when I was struggling before the exam with the noise in the hallway, she came out and let me in the exam room early so I could study in silence.

Okay, so now I am rambling, but getting on to my point: everyone, I am sure, will have different experiences, but for me it was definitely worth it. I get all the accommodation I need--most importantly: my private exam room. My school has 17000 students, and maybe a dozen private exam rooms. I never have any trouble getting one. If there is a downside to my disclosure, I have not realized it yet, and I do not regret for a second that I have registered with the office with autism. The only thing I have been having trouble grappling with is that I am actually admitting for the first time in my life that I have a disability. That was difficult.

Thank you for the replies, it has convinced me to go to the disabilities service right away when we star again in September. Just to make it clear: I am not going to ask for accommodation, since my school only has room for 1st year students and encourages 2nd years to find their own place in the city. So, since last year I have rented a property together with 3 others somewhere in a tiny village next to the woods, which give me solitude. The people are OK too; reasonable and not party people.

I also do not want any other compenstations than the presentation thing because I do not want to be judged differently from my peers and get the BA 'easier' (I have not accepted that aspergers is a disability, it just makes things harder.)

Does anyone know if uni would make me go to meetings or councelors if I say I've got aspergers?

they can at best recommend you to attend those meetings.

i have managed to get dispensation for several course parts (not only for presentations, i went all the way to the exam for some) without needing to fall back to the uni's disability support, most of my teachers were nicely accommodating; the biggest hurdle was my own inability to accept AS as a hindering factor.

Accommodation in this area can have two meanings, personally I was referring to accommodation in terms of them making modifications to the course or how you are assessed on things rather than a literal place to live. I don't know what everyone else meant.

Congrats on the official dX by the way.

Oeps, sorry, I can be a bit litteral sometimes and thank you about the dx, it stops me from doubting myself about being an aspie.

I am literal too...I just took the meaning of accommodation to mean the other literal meaning! LOL Yes, in this sense for my posts anyway, accommodation means getting accommodated academically.