Academic advantages of getting diagnosed?

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What are the academic advantages to getting diagnosed with aspergers or some learning disability? (I'm in university)

Is it really just extra time on tests and exams or are there other advantages. I can't imagine it being a "free pass" to somehow "get a degree easier" so what are the advantages?

I'm asking because I am considering telling my mum that I should get a diagnoses soon. There is a big risk (at least IMO) that I will struggle to get my science degree. I already failed a first year course. I just got 22.2% on a lab report in a second year course (although I told my mum I will tell her the exact mark this weekend when I see her).

Or am I just hopeless in terms of pursuing a university degree? I mean, not everyone goes to university and makes it all the way through but a degree is getting increasingly important.

They isn't just the advantages of extra time on tests; there are scholarships for students with Asperger's, as well as other openings in college (at least at my college) that can help with note taking, picking classes, and a few others I know of but can't remember off the top of my head.

get your school to consult you to a local psychologist
maybe science isn't your 'obsession'?

You know, your struggle with the lab report may be a lot like my struggles with assigned papers. The professor will say one thing, almost giving you permission to be creative (including in one case literally writing in the syllabus that the rules need not be followed exactly as long as the result makes sense), but then when it’s time to grade, Watch Out! It’s as if the professor recourses to the most down-the-middle, regimented standards of formality.

I'm not sure what advantage it really offers.

Yeah, if your condition makes meeting traditional things (timed exams, handwritten assignments, etc.) difficult to do like everyone else, a formal Dx might get you special accommodations to help you pass classes, but in both college and life, you are competing against others who may or may not have their own issues to overcome.

If you can't pass an exam within the 2-hour time limit because of anxiety issues, your college degree won't mean anything unless you can find a field of work that does not put time pressures on you. Overcoming anxiety issues is what most everyone else learns to do. Accommodating the disability allows the disabled person to gain the credential, but it does not equip them to overcome barriers later in life.

I agree with zer0netgain. I haven't taken any accommodations in college, because I think it would hurt me rather than help me in the long run. Probably the hardest part for me was learning how to take decent notes. At first I would take notes, and I'd look at them the next day and have no idea what I was talking about. Now that isn't a problem, because I learned with practice...

I think it’s fine to take extra time for tests.

To generalize, most of work is right-brain feel-and-texture with a lot of social skills, and most of school is left-brain hard analytic. I mean, it is way different anyway.

If someone wishes to learn work skills, say part-time or during Summer, they can get a job in furniture sales (professional sales where you can negotiate price and where you are selling more than one thing, unlike Best Buy where essentially the only thing you are selling is the extended service plan) or working at H&R Block where you are dealing face-to-face with real clients (please underline the part in the paperwork or otherwise inform clients in a real way about the possibility of third-party bank collection against this year’s tax refund, the clients have got to know, even though this risk only bites the client about 1 time out of 100).

It doesn't have any advantages really. You only get accomodations if you need them, so you aren't really advantaged, just being given a more equal playing field.

I've never had special accomodations, and I think it has benefitted me. I take notes really differently from my NT classmates (they seem disabled without having powerpoint slides printed out) but I do it really effectively. It helps me transition verbal learning to visual, so I can understand things better.

I'd be interested in what you've found for effective class preparation and note taking.

It really all depends on what accommodations you ask for and how good your disability office is. You can always speak to a psychologist/someone in the disability office at your university and tell them you're wanting to know how a diagnosis could benefit you. That would be my recommendation.

And that also gives you a chance to feel the person out and see if they are a reasonable and helpful person. And not in any kind of obvious or obnoxious manner. Just very matter-of-factly in the natural course of things. And in the next couple of days just pay attention to your feelings. Does formally applying (?) with disABILITY Services feel like a positive step forward?

This is kind of in keeping with my newer approach of logic and intellect possibly coming up with an action I might want to take and then trusting my feelings with whether it in fact feels like a positive step forward. And I am also in favor of a series of medium risks with feedback after each one.

im in a similar situation. im starting with the open university and wondering whether to go ahead with a diagnosis to help with uni. how much extra time do you get? this would be very very helpful to me. it also might be usefull to help explain awkwardness in interviews etc. im thinking?

First of all, forget about having it any easier than others because of a diagnosis. The university cannot make it easier for anyone one no matter the circumstances as it would make it unfair and lower the quality of those graduating from their institutions.

You do however get access to a different environment in which to take exams (quiet rooms) and sometimes a longer time period to take the exam (though in most universities this is available to anyone who requests it beforehand so its not a special perk).

The best assistance you can get with a diagnosis is to have a counselor oversee what your difficulties are and help you deal with them. A sort of 'study coach' if you will.

You can do this on your own too..you know yourself better than anyone so if you can sit down and think and list what things are making your grade drop you can develop ways of overcoming them.

Someone above mentioned they could not take notes and next class or a month later they'd have no clue what was going on... I have a similar problem.. its impossible to take notes while trying to pay attention and follow the lecture on the board. Either I understand whats going on or im in robot mode writing down anything that sounds important but im not paying attention to the material as a whole.

The workaround was rather simple: I bought an I-pad. The applet I use lets you take notes on the screen via handwriting recognition and it also records audio at the same time. When you write it timestamps the audio and text so you can link what you wrote at any point in the audio.

So rather than write down notes while in class I pay attention and only write down what I consider KEY words in the lecture..and voila! When i get home or need a quick review I can select the key words and listen to the lecture in my own pace and take my own notes (in legible, organized format) on a notebook.

If the company that makes the app comes out with a video-recording capable version of it for the ipad2 i'll upgrade my ipad to an ipad 2 for it. OR if the new Xoom has a similar applet (ive yet to look into it).

I have a very similar problem. I've attended college twice, both attempts failed due to me not having a diagnosis and fear of confronting something about it. It was just virtually impossible for me to do two things at once, I can't multi-task to save my life, and I seem to only have a one track mind alot of the times. Either I can write notes, but not make them understandable because I'm not understanding the material as a whole, or listen to the class, and hopefully (when I go to colelge this fall) have a notetaker who does it for me so I can actually pay attention in class and potentially learn something.

I doubt I can afford an ipad, but I will definitely look into it. Maybe I can convince Vocational Rehabilitation to get me one for educational purposes, but I surely doubt they'd believe me considering that'd be a pretty expensive "note taking tool" for them to provide.

Sorry for the thread necro-bump.

How does is that Ipad idea working out for you? Can you practically record, at an audible level, whatever your professor is saying? Especially from wherever your seat is, I find that hard to believe.

If the Ipad idea has worked for you over this long time. I am seriously considering for my needs.

I failed the last class because my teacher would not post his powerpoint slides after lecture. And I was not learning much in robot-mode; and not catching up to finishing my notes within a single-slide frame.

For me its a lot extra time on exams the university hires a note taker that hides in lectures and then emails me (the note takes in in my class but i do not know her or her me )

And also In the event that I have a melt down it will be a lot easier to ask for consideration as it will seam less like i just made it up on the spot.