"Confessing" AS to a prof

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There's this one prof I have who... just doesn't get me at all and a lot of our issues could be settled if I'd get some balls and finally admit my condition (which I keep a secret from basically everyone but my parents, one other prof, and the doctors who know about it). So for those of you who have had to talk to profs about it, what did you say? I don't even know how to explain to someone what it is.

I wrote a brief paper, (less than a page double spaced) explaining what autism was, and then disclosing that I was autistic. I dropped it in his office mailbox, with a note that he could email me with additional questions.

I'd be surprised if the professor didn't know what Autism spectrum is and didn't already suspect MizLiz was on it

but the brief paper sounds like a very good approach.

This time of year a lot of students are probably scrambling for special favors so it might be wise to include a few references, like the doctors' names and contact information and perhaps that of the other professor (after getting his permission of course).

I take classes as one of my retirement hobbies. I usually let the teachers know about my possible challenges (in confidence) early on in the semester long before a problem comes up.
Its sort of "This is what's going on. Why I might do this or that. If you have any problems with my coping strategies let me know and we can try to work things out".

She's really young (not saying that young = uninformed, but I don't expect her to have had an AS student before), so I doubt that she'd have already come to this conclusion.

I'm not sure I like the idea of a letter. For one thing, I don't want anything on paper because then, there's proof lying around. If news of this spreads, it could be incredibly damaging. Also, I'm going to have to speak with her at some point anyway.

I would simply go up to your prof either at the end of a lecture (if they have time then and there are not many people sticking around to ask questions) or at their office. I know with mine I could reserve a time to speak to my prof one on one. As for bringing it up, the easiest way would be to just do it. You stated that you have a few issues with this prof? You could bring it up by speaking of a particular occasion and explaining that this is partially the reason why you did what you did. I would agree about the using the other prof as a reference (if, of course, they agree to it) and you might have a couple of printed articles handy for questions if she has some.

Secondly, and you do not have to answer this, why would having other people know that you have AS cause major problems? I appologise, I simply do not understand why that would be so.

Hopefully she's not one of the "You took my class, you get the same treatment as everyone else!" type of teachers.

I had this very same problem,except that I did tell the proffesor about my disabilities on the first day of class, since then she had treated me like crap. She was helpful and explained things to the other students, she had a better camaderie with the other students in the class but with me she treated me somewhat coldly and acted like I was a pain in the ass to her when I asked her question or wanted her to claify something. It got to the point that I withdrew from the class before the 15th of Nov. so that I could still have a good academic standing. The thing of it all was, I was getting B's in that class. I felt bad about it but I cannot be in an environment where it isn't conducive to my learning.

Remember, you are the one paying the school for an education, if you don't feel that the instructor is conducive to your learning environment then you can probably request to switch classes.

I think most professors know what Aspergers is and can probably spot it better than the average psychologist can!

Folks don't you all know that in college now all you have to do is get a letter from your doctor saying you have a Aspergers or ADD/ADHD diagnosis, give it to the guidance counselor and then they by law have to give you accomadations because its covered under ADA regulations? I have a friend that did it which means yes the professor did have to give special favors such as allowing someone more test time, testing in a private room and not fussing at them for acting peculiar.

My college doesn't make concessions for disabilities that aren't physical.

The reason I don't want people to know is because I have several disabilities. Every time I reveal one, I get a little more discriminated against.

This semester is my last one and I have to say that this:
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/D/ ... SECTION=US

Is the most useful thing I've "learned" all semester, even though I learned it from this site.

Highly doubtful. My genetics professor had never heard of Asperger's, and even commented that he had noticed no difference between me and any of his other students.


Not quite. There's a few more hoops to jump through than that, trust me, I've run into that wall already. I currently get a separate testing room, but no other accommodations. However, every prof I've approached about arranging the separate testing room has also offered me extra time if I needed it. But that's an individual professor thing, nothing to do with the university at all.

In both of my classes where this became a problem, I just stayed for a minute after class (in front of classmates - big deal, we all have our issues), and told him I was "mildly autistic" and needed clarification on a few things - like what the hell he was expecting us to do, in clear and literal language.

The other students aren't paying as much attention as you'd think anyways, and no one really cares if you're autistic even if they do happen to overhear you talking to the prof.

Exactly. In fact every in every instance when someone reacted to it, they expressed honest curiosity from ignorance because they thought I was just another NT trying to make it through life. I think many of us act more "normal" than we think we do.

You guys are incorrect. You can't say your college is different. Every college in the US is required to give reasonable accomodations under ADA law. Its the law-- they have to do it whether they want to or not. Reasonable accomodation is defined as anything that does not cost over $750 to accomodate. If you aren't getting accomodations then its because you aren't asking for them. You really need a disability advocate like Voc Rehab to push them to accomodate because they can get fined if they don't. The only thing is you need an official diagnosis of Aspergers or ADD so I don't know if that's your problem why you can't get accomodations.

It doesn't matter if the professor knows you have disabilities. The other students will not find out because its not suppose to be disclosed to your classmates. Either way doesn't matter because after 4 years, or less, you never see those people again for the rest of your life.

There are places that don't comply with federal law. UMichigan just got sued.

Just because something is the law doesn't mean that it won't be a university's personal policy to try to sidestep you. They've discouraged me at every turn, no matter how much documentation I've shown them.

Pretty much a direct quote from the supremely unhelpful disability coordinator:

"It's up to the prof."

...regarding whether or not I'm allowed to use a laptop/recorder (I have agraphia), the extent to which I have to work in groups, speeches, etc.

I know enough about civil liberties law to know he's full of s**t, but I've never bothered pursuing anything. This afternoon, I began the process of pursuing something.

Though, not because of this particular prof. This is for a different b***h.

It's been years since I got my Bachelor's and Master's degrees in college, but I wish Asperger's had been known about in the U.S. in the 80s. Had I known about it, and gotten the diagnosis then rather than recently, it would have made things in college better for me since the college I went to gladly made accommodations for students that needed them. I graduated with honors, but there were times I felt like I really struggled. Had accommodations been made, it would have been much less stressful on me. If a person deserves accommodations, then I believe the person should pursue them.