Dorm Room Accommodations

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Here's what I am wondering...

Have any of you been able to get special room accomodations because of Asperger's?

What I mean is... for example I would like to get a single room. But I would like to have a single room on the same floor as the rooms of my friends. My reasoning for this accommodation is because I need a quiet place where I can escape and be alone (I can't live at home, too far away) but at the same time I do not want to be completely isolated from my friends because then I will be alone all the time and thus creating further problems.

So have any of you managed to get special accommodations such as this? Or any special living accomodations at all?

I went and talked (first time) to the head of our DSS office. Our school sounds like it will be very helpful, but every single accommodation has to be recommended by a doctor. I think that would not be so hard to do. Just going to go to my doctor and say "these are the accommodations I would like, here is why... please write my letter. "

Other accommodations I am thinking of include:

quiet testing environment with a somewhat extended testing time
books on computer (pdf form, scanned, whatever)
ability to do homework on my computer (I have a tablet PC) and send them in, or print them out and hand them in. most of my teachers wont currently allow this, so i have to write them in stupid pencil which i despise.

Anyway please let me know if you have been successful in getting any similar accommodations. Thanks.

Well I got accomdation for a single room basically at GMU my freshman year.

Really... did you have to pull a lot of strings to get this? What did you say/do/tell them in order to get a single room?

They called me up one day and ask me if I want to have a roommate which I wanted to but they though it would be better if I had single and they put it into housing and I got single twice. The second time is currently in suite with three guys and we will get along well.

I think you should get a roommate. You can't avoid dealing with people and the world. Getting a single only enables your sickness.

Well, you won't have privacy then. I have privacy in a single and with three other guys in their singles in our suite we can talk to each other when we are able to which is dealing with people anyway. Joining clubs of your interests is dealing with people as well.

First of all, I don't think of it as a sickness. Secondly, your right, I don't want to isolate myself. Which is why I need my room to be near that of my friends. But I do want my own room so that I can escape, play my Wii, do my things without anyone bothering me.

I've had both experiences. Last year, I had a roommate, which worked out pretty well. At the beginning of the year, I told her what to expect from me and both of us knew what was going on. It was good and we both granted each other privacy when it was needed.

This year, I have a single room because our campus has both single and double rooms available to students. You just have to talk to the guy who is in charge of housing and if there's any complications, he'll sit down and talk to you in more detail later. A lot of students (upperclassmen mostly) get single rooms because they know they'll have a lot of homework. A friend of mine has a single room because she goes to bed really late and gets up really early (and doesn't want to bother a roommate by doing this).

It mostly depends on what university you go to. Since I'm at a small school, there are more accomodations for dorm housing than at some of the larger universities.

Not that I spend much time in my room, however. I'm usually only there for quiet hours (when I'm resting or doing homework) or on the weekends. Oftentimes, I'm visiting one of my friends in one of the other dorm rooms and it's nice because it's almost all on-campus housing, so you can easily walk across campus in less than ten minutes to get to your friend's room to visit.

I'm debating this for next year. My roommate and I get along really well, and it's nice having someone to "come home" to, and to have that connection (risking getting a bad roommate though i feel like is not worth it.) But I still can't stand living with someone. Sleep is a big issue for me since I have big problems with it - I want to go to bed at a reasonable time, my roomate - who falls asleep isntantly and can take a nap whenever she wants, understandably does not. We like different music so we can't sing along to what we like. We like different temperature rooms. She's obsessed with her boyfriend, and I feel 'sexiled' when he comes for a visit - many days she obsesses and cries over the fact that he hasn't called her, and I feel like a bad person if I want to watch Tv or something when she's freaking out - but I probably feel the same way about my tv shows that she feels about her boyfriend. I also panic about not having my own space to go to sometimes - like whereas when people's bfs visit, many will just go chill somewhere else and sleep in someone else's room. I can't do that without an anxiety attack. I can't deal with not knowing when I'll be allowed back in, and when I can have access to my tv/computer, etc. I know I'd be a lot less stressed in a single - however, I think it wll make my social problems worse because it doesn't force me to socialize.

Roommates are good people to get along with. I'm social with my roommates/ suite mates because we do talk each other when possible . Also hang with Alex when possible and with my friends in the Kendo/Kumdo Club.

.. I'm kind of in same situation as you Quirky. I like to do want I do when I need/want to do it. Often times when my roommates boyfriend comes over I just kind of sit on my bed and like, have to wear earplugs or whatever. They aren't so disrespectiful that they do anything dirty while I am in the room, but still they make a lot of giggling noises. Which bothers me. Also I cannot watch my tv/etc. And I also cannot go sleep somewhere else, it freaks me out! I can't do it...

I like to be able to socialize, and I do spend a significant amount of time doing it, but at the same time I need to be able to have my routines. I need to be able to watch the TV shows that I want to watch, and play my Wii when I want to watch it, and just be alone when I want to.

My current roommate is not any help anyway. She does not talk or socialize with me, so it just makes it worse. I know next year I will end up with another random roommate (my friends have already chosen each other to be roommates -- and not me, they figure I will get a single) and that will again be just as frustrating.

I was able to get a single because of my AS diagnosis, though not until my sophomore year. I would highly recommend it, if you can get one. It's true that I'm less social living on my own, but I really hated having to share a room. It didn't help that the room was tiny and I never talked (and I mean never talked) to the person who I shared the room with. Sharing a room is extremely uncomfortable for me--I need a certain amount of alone time and I just can't get that with someone else invading my space all the time. I also like being able to choose when I go to sleep, etc. I would definitely recommend a single over sharing a room.

I also have a single room due to my Asperger's. Since I have documentation stating that I have Asperger's, I gave that to my DSS office, so I would be able to have a single room. (When I didn't really understand what AS was, I was just glad I could use it to get a single room!! !) It was not that big of problem except when the new terms starts because Housing seems not to understand that my room is single. I was able to pick the room I wanted so that was nice. One thing I have found to be good is to talk to the head of dorm (Hall Director) and work with that person than going to the Housing office. Also, I have explained Asperger's to my Hall Director so she understand what is going. I had a problem last year with my roommate, who did move out after month, and talking to the Hall Director really helped and allowed me to one more person who could help me out with things.

So, I would think that if you have documentation stating you have AS, the college should be able to give you a single room without a problem. Also, I think it is a very good idea to have the single room on the same floor as your friends or at least the same dorm. I know that it helps with socializing.

I wish that my AS had been known when I was in college and that I could have gotten special accommodations. I despised every roommate that I ever had.

I hate to "advise" you to lie but I got a special accomodation immediately the second after I told the university has had severe digestive/intestinal/bowel problems.

They gave me three different single options within the next day; no questions asked.

why the f**k do you deserve these 'needs'? Nobody likes doing stuff in pencil. everyone prefers their own medium of study. Everyone would like more time on a test. But you shouldn't be entitled to them just because of f****n AS. I mean, imagine what the people who you would request these from would think of AS with this list. They'd think you were a robot or something. Live with it, you can't just request permission to skip the painful parts of life.