College and aspergers

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Okay. So i'm writing a story on having aspergers. I have it, but its not that bad for me, and i don't have any sort of disabilities for school or anything.


My question is:


Are there any colleges, where if you had it on your record (is there even a record?) your CA (community adviser, residential adviser . . . whatever) would be notified of it?

Presuming you're in the USA (since you call it college sted university), NOBODY at college has to know about ANY disability you have, thanks to one or more Federal laws, possibly State and/or local laws too, depending on where your school is. IF you seek help with it from or through your school's disability office or officer, they will know obviously (from you), and IF you request "reasonable accommodation" of your disability, then whoever needs to respond to your request -- teacher, housing director, dean, whoever -- will also know (from you).

Since you're saying your AS isn't posing any disabilities for your attendance at school or anything, ISTM there's nothing anybody has to know about it unless you freely reveal it to them. Of course, if you're concerned, you might want to be selective about to whom you reveal it. If you're living on campus, then depending on the size of the school, your on-campus community could be very small indeed, especially about something many NTs fear or deny or attribute "celebrity" status to (fame or infamy!): As REO Speedwagon sang a generation ago, "Talk is cheap when the story is good." But if you have no record of criminality or misconduct traceable to your AS, and you keep it to yourself (factually speaking), I don't see how it could get to your RA. If campus health/mental health services, or Admissions, know about it, I think that should still be confidential unless you start shooting up the place or whatever and they need to "deal with you" ... and then it'll depend on State law I believe, as we saw after the Virginia Tech shooting.

Are you thinking about RAs being advised, 'Watch out if this person starts doing this, or that person starts doing that, seizures, diabetic shock, anaphylactic shock, etc.'? ISTM that since you're a mentally competent adult, that information would only come from you, or with your permission -- unless, again, the AS has caused you to be "a problem" to the cops, the judicial system (eg, restraining orders, etc.), or something.

This is really general. If it's not helpful, maybe if you supply some more specifics, I could be more helpful. I have alot of experience around postsecondary educational institutions and campuses, so I feel pretty confident in what I've told you. Although schools outside the mainstream might be more peculiar in how they treat things like this -- lawfully or not(!) -- I can't be sure.

Is the story you're writing for a course assignment? some kind of 'encounter group'? Maybe the school's disability office or officer could enlighten you about particulars around what to expect there. Or you could consult a local disability law or advocacy, or legal aid, organization or office, to be sure about what you can expect.

Hope this helps! Take care,
Pete

PS: Just to be clear, I am not an attorney or recognized expert in any of these areas, just a well-read layman. "Your mileage may vary!"

thanks for that response. I am writing a fictional story, and i guess, if anything i am wondering if it is believable that an RA would know before a student arrives that he has aspergers.


And if it is only believable under certain circumstances, what those circumstances would be. Like i know if i were to go to disabilities, the only people (i think) that would be aware of it, are the professors whom i want to be aware of it.

But are there any circumstances where an RA would be warned of a person's status?


and yes i am in the states.

Ah, so you would like to know hypothetically from someone who is or was an RA, hall director, housing director, maybe even a dean ... which leaves me out!

But in my educated guess, I'd be surprised if an RA would be so warned officially, unless maybe the student isn't 18 yet and has very protective parent(s) -- legally a minor --- *I* didn't turn 18 till October after high school graduation [though the subject of AS didn't arise then because Dr. Asperger's research wouldn't be translated into English for another decade or so!]. Or unless the student had a questioned mental competence/impairment on account of a seriously-fluctuating AS/HFA -- I mean sometimes alot *less* "functional" -- or dual/multiple diagnosis such as mental retardation, developmental disability, or serious mental illness (ie, psychological/emotional) -- IOW still under the responsibility of his/her parent(s). Or maybe the new student has a physical impairment that somehow brings up, "Oh yeah, s/he's also Aspergers."

Along that line, if the RA and the new student share some common community, s/he might have heard about him/her "unofficially" -- neighborhood, town, faith community/denomination, clan, tribe, Boy/Girl Scout troop, summer camp, or something. Or these days, if s/he heard about him/her thru the Internet!

Or, like I said, if the freshman comes with a criminal record, restraining orders (stalking, who knows?), or something, maybe an RA would be apprised of that kind of thing.

Actually I guess this is very similar to the situation of the Va. Tech shooter, when afterward people complained that since he was an adult, no one could be apprised of his mental health history against his will, so no one could get a heads-up until it was too late. Of course, Asperger's generally poses little or no real physical danger to other persons if the Aspie has made it into college, so perhaps even less so would anyone get a heads-up in the case of an 18-yr-old or older student. There are no Admissions quotas for Disabled students -- I believe under the Americans with Disabilities Act an adult student has the right to keep their disability, challenges, etc., completely to themselves.

Of course, this is all according to law. Not everyone always follows the law, and maybe therein would be the seeds of your fictional story? Say it's a small college (urban, suburban, or rural) and this is their first known Aspie, given today's increased profile of ASCs, and with the hype, some people there are scared/concerned/whatever. S/He or her/his references have mentioned it during the admissions process, or maybe s/he has done his/her homework and put in requests for Reasonable Accommodation already with regard to his/her particular traits/symptoms/challenges/whatever. Maybe then the RA got a "You didn't hear this from me" warning from someone in the Administration of the college. It's a stretch; administrators I've known are generally conscientious about this sort of thing. But there are hundreds of small colleges in America....

Or maybe better, maybe a work-study student overhears discussion in the Admissions Office, knows the prospective RA, yada yada yada.

For purposes of the story, if you want the RA to be notified officially, I think it would be believable. You can have a short explanation of when and how this came about, or a longer explanation as you choose if part of the story, or it can just be assumed as part of the backstory, however you wish to play it as author.

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And of course, the way it should be, you register with student services, you should be able to choose who will be informed, maybe only student services itself. Or, maybe only professors in your major, or maybe all your professors. And maybe your RA, or not, as you choose. But institutions tend to have a difficult time with this. 'We need a uniform policy.' Letting the person choose is a uniform policy! But institutions have a hard time with that.