Apricot, I had the same reaction when I first saw the accommodations we have to make for students. I had a student with Tourette’s who took exams on his own in a quiet room, and students with dyslexia who needed extra time on exams, and I have a student now who is in a wheelchair and has limited mobility in her upper body, who gets photocopies of another student’s class notes and takes her exams at the same time as the rest of the class, but across campus with a scribe. I had a student last semester with OCD who would have really bad attacks that interfered with her ability to study and come to class and had to take an incomplete. She completed her work this semester, and got a B in my class, and is taking meds and working with a counselor on coping strategies, but is still having trouble.
I used to think, well, really, why should these students get extra help? I mean, everyone would do better if we gave them extra time on exams, and extended deadlines, and so on. How come a note from your doctor means you should get special treament? Shouldn’t they just sink or swim like everybody else?
Then I wised up. Which of the students on my list should be denied the opportuntity to attend college, and the small accomodations required to do their best? Would you be comfortable telling a bright, enthusastic student that, sorry, you’re just not cut out for a “traditional” school because you can’t hold a pencil, and you don’t belong here?
If you don’t have a problem with a physically disabled student getting some extra help, what about the kids with dyslexia? Many of them were as smart and motivated as they come, they just don’t read and write as fast as other students. They learn just as well, let me tell you. Their disability has no more influence on their intelligence than for the student in the wheelchair. It’s just the method we use to test them that slows them down. If I gave oral exams, they wouldn’t require extra time–but there would be a new set of equally deserving students who, for one reason or another, needed special accomodations.
Having a medical condition that takes you out of action for a couple weeks shouldn’t prevent you from going to college. Any student could have an accident or illness or personal crisis that means they’ll miss a significant portion of the semester. In a class of 90 students, I’ve had three students this semester who missed a week or more of class for one reason or another. If the student can make up the work in a reasonable amount of time, I don’t see why we can’t give them the chance to do that.
I’ve never met a student with disabilities who ever tried to get out of doing the normal coursework, or who seemed like they were trying to push the sympathy thing into an unfair advantage. Like Phlosphr sez, you can smell that from a mile away. And they’re definintely conscious of the stigma, and will usually not take advantage of all the accomodations they’re entitled to if there’s any way they can manage without.
