Professor screwed me over by completely stigmatizing me..

Post Reply New Topic

I am a major in psychology, cognitive science and life science. After college I am very much interested in a psychotherapy master and fully specializing myself in autism treatment. Why? Well, first of all I think that therapists and experts look too much at the behavioral aspects of autism. They only tend to see what children with autism do, and not why they do it? Mainly what kind of feelings lie beneath it. I, having autism myself, understand this like no other. I do notice the behavior, although it is not necessarily behavior I engage in myself and do exactly feel what that person is going through. I told this to my psychology professor but she laughed at me and said: 'Yeah right, I have never ever met a person with Asperger's having empathy so I think you are basically living in some kind of dream world! Isn't it about time to wake up?'. My friends claim I'm the most empathetic person they've ever met. This woman was a fully qualified clinical psychologist who basically knows the entire DSM by heart, but has no idea that these are just guidelines and shouldn't be literally followed in each patient. She said this the first time we met, she didn't know anything about me yet. However, she was convinced that I didn't belong in the clinical psychology track and should find something else. Each time I approached her with a question related to the subject she answered with: 'You should figure that out yourself. And if you don't understand this, well, I think you do not belong here'. Then she failed me on papers, because 'I clearly did not understand what was expected of me' (well that was why I asked her?). It seemed like she was looking for excuses to fail me... I scored a D in the end. A conditional pass, but she saw it as proof that indeed psychology wasn't my thing. However, the truth was that that semester I was so stressed out that I scored D's in basically all my courses, from all different disciplines. So in that case, in fact nothing was 'my thing'. I am completely banned from the psychology track now, because according to her I should do something in which I had to communicate less with others, cause that was something I clearly couldn't do.

In fact my stigma basically killed my dreams for a future career. This was my dream! Thank you, narrow minded woman. Maybe you did not deserve to be a psychologist instead of me .

Ever seen that movie about Temple Grandin? Just keep doing what you're doing, as no grade can sum up what you are and what you know. Those currently in the position of authority only work to preserve that authority instead of actively looking for new solutions to unsolved and newly arising problems, and a new mind needs to persevere to make a difference. Something like a change of institution can work wonders too, but you may never have an instructor who can actualise your abilities so the freedom is yours.

Then what does she get paid for? If students can figure out everything for themselves, she is redundant.

Are you still in touch with other students who took the course at the same time? If you can prove that this professor singled you out, that might be sufficient cause for being allowed to re-take the course. And if you can make a case for being stressed out, all your courses. Question is whether you can afford it.


Is she the only one who graded your papers? I am used to there being a second examiner from another university, to make sure standards are consistent.

I get so tired of people saying we don't have empathy. It doesn't mean what most NT's think it does. I tell my psych students (gasp! an Aspie psychology teacher!) that empathy has two components: caring about what others are feeling, and being able to intuit what others are feeling. Most Aspies I know care very deeply, and can comprehend when other people either clearly show or tell them how they are feeling, they just sometimes have trouble guessing how people are going to feel before we see them feel it (only if we would feel differently about it in their situation). They have the first part but not the second. Sociopaths don't have the first part, but have the second part in droves. I absolutely hate it when people think we "lack empathy" in the same way that a sociopath does. You know way more about Asperger's than she ever will, and I have a suggestion where she can put her DSM.

paris75007, I wish you were my psychology teacher

I would take it to the dean or whoever handles discrimination complaints at your school. If you can, get statements from classmates about anything she said in front of them.

I hate to keep filling up your thread like this, but this has me really angry. You would think if she is such an expert on autism, she would be familiar with the work of Dr. Stephen Shore, and many others in the field, who have autism themselves.

I know. But technically there is nothing I can do. She used to be my tutor and when she was elected as head of department of Social Sciences, she quit being a tutor. Therefore she transferred her tutees temporarily to the Senior Tutor of our college. Hence I had a meeting with both her and the Senior Tutor about my issues. In this meeting she was acting as if she was the victim. As if she was putting all her energy in me as a student, but that I simply was too lazy to follow her advice.

Truth is I actually did obtain these grades. I did get a D because my performance on my paper really sucked. However, that was because I did not understand the fine things of the assignment and when I asked for clarity she refused to give me any. Truth is that my Asperger's does in fact affect me in the sense that I often do not understand what is being expected from me. If the instructions are: write a 2000 word academic paper on a topic of interest, I go crazy with confusion. A topic of interest? This is psychology! Everything is interesting! I cannot make decisions at all. Even during grocery shopping it already is a disaster. So many vegetables! What on earth shall I have for dinner tonight?! I always prefer someone telling me: YOU- go do this, NOW!! Because that's clear... Do whatever you want is terrible... Then WHAT should I do? I'm constantly wondering if what I'm doing is right and therefore bothering and stalking other people asking what on earth I should do. Luckily most of my friends understand this issue and don't mind giving me advice. Also my professors mostly do understand it and guide me in some kind of direction, so that in the end I do come up with something myself, but am guided a bit. This professor was black and white on that. I don't see that she doesn't understand this. I actually did inform her about this and so did my previous tutor who was extremely protective towards me.

Most of the time the things that were said were said in private meetings in her office. There are no witnesses or evidence. She can say whatever she wants. The only evidence present is the D I obtained for the course, which gives her the full right of saying that I did score a D on the course and that psychology is not my thing. And use my diagnosis as extra confirmation: 'And I already saw this coming regarding her Asperger's and poor communication skills.'. To which the rest of the board of studies, including the Senior Tutor who was a physics professor: 'Well., you should know, you're the psychologist and her instructor'

She seriously has full power in this. Also talking to the Dean wasn't fruitful. I couldn't do much more than switching my major from clinical to social psychology. Which is still a pity. However for my sociology course I wrote an essay on stigmatization and medicalization and included this story in it.. I earned an A+ on the essay and I am seriously considering putting it in her pigeon hole after my graduation in order to hopefully cure her of her narrow-mindedness.

Sounds like a good plan to me.

I have to type fast because I am at McDonald's and my battery is going dead in two minutes.

You are amazing.

I'm sorry that professor has prevented you from doing the psych track that you really want for your major. But one good thing is that you're still in undergrad. You don't actually get a degree in clinical psych specifically until grad school. And most of the time, grad school programs don't require a specific undergrad major. You could be majoring in English and still try out for a clinical psych grad program. So, as others have said, keep your dreams high and don't let this one professor stop you from achieving what you are meant to do.

I want to see you working with people on the spectrum.

My Evidence:
01. You write clearly.
02. You know that the bDSM is a load of crap.
03. You understand autism from the reality of the experience and not some abstraction.
04. You are on the spectrum. The best autism experts in my opinion always seem to be on the spectrum.
05. You know how to communicate with people on the spectrum. This was implicitly obvious in your posts.
06. You are smart.