Declaring your "disability" to the college?

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Jumia, I could have the same experience, from hearsay.

In the case of one of my friends, his autism alone caused him to get straight failures in English, even though it's his favorite subject, without even consideration to the effort he put into learning new words, plus reading everyday. They just put an autism label on him and kind of force him to give up English. I thought even though he may not fit into all the criteria, he deserves a marginal pass.

It also depends on where you live - I live in Singapore, where there are always standard answers for everything.

Let's just say that it was a subject with a practical component which involved me being off campus for a number of weeks. Yes, there were some concerns, but I had already taken more than adequate steps to address these concerns. In my opinion, they were never concerned about my success being impeded.

The whole thing was such a terrible experience. I just don't feel safe anymore, knowing that people can behave like that.

Unfortunately, once you stand up for yourself and call people out on their actions, you risk being labelled a 'problem'. Being female and AS only makes the issue far worse. I had recently wanted to take a regular subject in that department, but the teacher has basically refused to make any time available to meet with me (and another staff member) to discuss my taking the subject. This has never, ever been a problem before. I have never even met nor spoken to him, but he knows about my having autism. What conclusions am I to draw from this?

Before drawing any conclusions, I would be sure the school is truly refusing to make time to meet with you. There should be someone in the department or in the registrar's office that is willing to meet with you to talk about taking the class (if the teacher won't). It may just be a scheduling issue. But you might have to push them to get the meeting. Don't take no for an answer, if you can help it.


Thanks to all for your responses! This has been very helpful.

Thanks. It's not the school, but one teacher. The person who tried to arrange the meeting is a colleague in the same department. After a number of unsuccessful attempts to arrange the meeting, the person advised me that they thought I needed to go to someone more senior outside of the department to force the issue, as co-operation was clearly not going to be forthcoming.

Unfortunately, I was diagnosed with severe depression and complex-PTSD in the wake of all the crap which has previously happened, and find that I don't have the capacity to push issues like this anymore without going to pieces, so to speak.

Why not declare our strengths in college instead of our weaknesses? And autism may not be just weaknesses, if you're an Aspie yourself, y'know. I don't.

i have disclosed my 'condition' to college; however, this was to a personal mentor; every student gets assigned one at the college i go to, and they count as some kind of trust person; a first step to take in anything bigger then asking to discuss your gradings with a teacher basically.

with this mentor aware of my diagnosis and the specific ways it impacted me in college; i had an ally in requesting special treatment from teachers; in places that i wanted, for example; knowing the exact exam requirements, extra time or the ability to write an essay of some sort in place of the normal ones or even in place of a written test.

i do usually go up to the teacher in question personally and one-on-one, giving out the problems i have that are relevant to that course, and asking if an exeption case can be made.
if the teacher then appears to be unwilling or misunderstanding, i have the mentor as a reinforcement, someone who is a step above the teacher in the hiearchy, but i prefer not to use that 'trump card'.

of course, this still doesn't always work, and for some courses it is just not possible to finish in an alternative way; it might be difficult to try and replace practical labwork with purely solo-written assignments, for example.


my most recent 'success' in this way is on a course where i got allowed to make the exam at home, in my own time, using all the books, internet and software i'd want to use, getting almost a week to finish the 3-hour exam; as long as i didn't ask for the help of fellow students.
this i managed without even getting close to mentioning any specifics other then that it is hard for me to make written exams.

For me, being able to "declare" a disability that your child has to the college would be in their best interest. When I decided to present my official documents stating that I had ADHD, the disability office at my school was able to provide good, however limited support for me (such as being able to take tests in a separate test area, and having extra time to take my tests). Many colleges in general though, do not provide a sense of community to those with Asperger's.

My personal opinion is that he should disclose the "disability" to the Disability office (or at my school, the Office of Educational Accessibility). I believe that they should set up meetings for his professors to meet with him to discuss any additional time that he made need to take particular tests, any notes that may be provided to him before class or other things. It has been a big bonus for me because I am highly aware of the faintest auditory and visual stimuli that occurs in a classroom.

Sorry, I think that I got off track.

I have yet to declare my disability(ies) to the school that I'm currently trying to attend yet. And honestly, I think my Sleep Apnea gives me more trouble in class than anything from my ASD. Extremely difficult to stay in class, especially around 12-3 in the Afternoon (has been like that since the 7th-8th Grade). I might try to fight the sleeping issues within certain classes of my interest (Art, History, etc.) but it's so hard.

I've still managed to get superb grade without the assisstance, so I don't know if I need it or not, but for certain times of the day.......

Do you mean Chronic Fatigue Syndrome? Sleep apnea is brief cessations of breathing in your sleep---many people don't even realize they have it. Unless of course, it keeps you awake most of the night making you sleepy the next day...

Either way, I can see how that would be very difficult--good job at keeping the grades up!

I'm in a welding/tech program at my community college however never felt there were any accommodations I would need so I didn't officially disclose, however I have told 2 of my professors during casual conversation. If there ever comes a time where I feel it necessary to officially disclose I won't hesitate, but so far my teachers have been quite adaptive to the needs of students, so for of now I'm not too concerned.

I wear ear plugs during tests and sometimes request a quiet area to take them. I also made a point to let all of my teachers know that I simply cannot and will not read to the class or do black-board work if called on to do so. So far none of them have had any issues with this.

As long as he knows to ask for accommodations if he needs them he shouldn't have any problems.

I've had two sleep studies done to determine my sleep apnea. It's more nasal because of my large adenoids. I do wake up at night usually because of loss of breath, and my parents can remember me doing such. Can be fixed by surgery, but I like being this way. Can't imagine not being sleepy all the time. And...that I can't afford surgery, I am a college student

@Luckyleft: So, your sleeping issues impact on your ability to perform in class, but you like it that way. Okay? I guess that is your choice.

Entering this conversation a bit late, but at my first university, I disclosed to my disabilities office, although I didn't disclose ASD because I hadn't been given the formal dx yet back then. I intend to disclose my conditions to my current university, so I can get things like alternative assessments and extended assignment due dates. Also, in Australia, if my condition is impacting on my ability to study, I can pull out of a course at any time without penalty, and I can also get a reimbursement of my course fees.

So, personally I would recommend that your son should go and register at the disabilities office. At the very least, they can help advocate for him if something impacts on his study. They can talk to the university staff on his behalf and arrange various accommodations if necessary. If you are wondering what exactly they can do, it is worth arranging an appointment with them beforehand.

I never declared disability when I was in college, because I didn't need to. I was on IEP all through high school, but the benefits I got didn't help a whole lot in my grade. The one that I used most was that I was allowed to type everything. Teachers demanded that I type everything because my handwriting was bad. These days, everybody types everything. I did have the right to an "extended time" benefit, but I rarely used it. The only time I needed it was for the SATs. It did wonders when I took the SATs. I got out later than almost everybody else, but I'm sure I would've not done well without it. But in college I just didn't need those requirements. I graduated college with a 3.15 GPA.

Hi, I am also Singaporean and I struggled with a few other language subjects.

In secondary school, I was discouraged with Chinese reading comprehension. I would look for the relevant part of the passage, write down what I thought would be a good answer, and find that very often, I would get marks deducted. Argh.

As for English Lit, I love reading and was interested in the passages, but had problems with unseen poetry at O Levels. Because unseen poetry is allocated a proportional chunk of the marks, I ended up with borderline passes. Fortunately, my English Lit teacher could see that I had an interest in the subject and would often go through the extra exercises I did (she put them in her pigeonhole for any interested takers) one-to-one.

I find that the character analysis in Lit helps me to understand human behaviour from the books I read, and allows me to assess actual human behaviour I witness better.

When I was applying to university I just didn't declare my situation as a health issue. I got through and graduated from university. I have supportive lecturers, family and friends.

There was one lecturer I didn't feel comfortable with, so the one time I felt I really needed to have a consultation about school work, I went with a friend (so I would not be alone with him) and talked it out with a school counsellor.

I haven't declared my disability to my college, and I don't have any plans on intending to do so. I won't receive "accommodations" in the real world, so I might as well get used to it now. About the only AS symptoms I have left anymore is ADD symptoms that I've learned to control.