Should accommodations be noted on your transcript?

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I don't want to ruffle any feathers, but I have always felt that if a person gets any accommodations for their classes, then these accommodation should be noted on their transcript, so potential graduate/college admissions and employer folk will know what context to take any grades they get. People should know that the A that was received required extra time on test, special tutoring sessions, and what not. Obviously the reasons for the accommodation need to remain private.

Bad idea, the transcript should not have such a note on it.

Putting this on a resume/transcript would be blatant discrimination. Just because some of us need extended time on exams for certain subjects doesn't mean that we are incapable of comprehending the material. It simply means that our brains work differently, and that we take extra time to be able to show what we know. For example, I received top marks in my second-semester statistics course in college and did so well that I became a TA for the class the following year. I received extended time for the last two exams in the course. Did I fail the earlier exams? Not at all. I got a perfect on the first test. Rather, extended time allowed me to be sure I had enough time to properly process the material and not be rushed. Same with chemistry. I went for many office hour sessions for my college chemistry courses, not because I don't have the intelligence to understand chemistry, but because I learn differently and needed to have it taught to me in a way I could see it. I might have Nonverbal Learning Disorder, which inhibits my ability to do mathematics, but conceptually, I am capable of understanding extremely advanced and abstract sciences. Just because I couldn't ever understand the Schrodinger equation from a mathematical standpoint doesn't mean that I don't understand what the Schrodinger equation MEANS and how quantum mechanics works...

I agree in part. I don't see it as an unfair advantage to give people with, say, writing difficulties extra time, but I do think it should be noted, with the decision to list the reason why they needed it optional.

I know of several kids in high school whose parents got them diagnosed with ADD/Dyslexia in the run up to their final exams, just to get extra time and accomodations. I think having to state that you needed accomodations would prevent a lot of false diagnoses. It would make little difference to those that do have legitimate reasons (if their difficulty/handicap is severe, they would have to disclose it on their work application anyway), and might also encourage people who aren't that severe to try and see what they can accomplish without extra support.

Part of an examination is about being rushed and managing your time correctly. That's why it's more than just learning your stuff, but also practicing old questions and planning ahead. Everyone who completed final exams in my year moaned about running out of time.

As for private tutorials... I'm not sure how you'd regulate that to be honest. Sometimes when teachers aren't great, you need to get extra help. It isn't fair on kids that can't afford tutors though. I suppose the onus is on professors/teachers doing their job well in the first place to help eliminate the advantage.

I also agree with OddDuckNash's last point; if you aren't understanding the material and need it explained differently, that shouldn't count against you as long as you know it by the time Finals roll round!

So employers have a reason to not choose you for a job? good idea.

The idea of putting on the certificate or transcript some remark about the accomodations reminds me of the jewish folklore about the people in Sodom giving beggers money which was marked. No one would accept the marked money if the begger tried to buy food so the begger would then stave to death with money in their pocket/purse.

The old jewish folklore seems to have the view that sex was not the big problem with S + G, the fact that the people of these places were so keen to be cruel and pervert the law was more serious.

This happen long before I was hired here, and was told this by a coworker. We were discussing special accommodations for people with disability at work. But many years before I was hired, they hired some woman, who never once bothered to mention that she would need special accommodations. It wasn't until after she was hired that she provided them with a notices from her doctor stating that she cannot work in a cubicle and needs to work in a quiet office. Under the law they had no choice by to accommodate her, and it was a real inconvenience. They were stuck with her for years too, before she decided to get a different job. I don't see why she wasn't required to disclose such important information before being hired.

Something like what I described with the transcript could help employers known in advance if they have someone like the person I described.

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Last edited by nat4200 on 21 Apr 2012, 2:07 am, edited 1 time in total.

I am not sure I agree that it would actually be discrimination. If someone is able to work in an environment without the need for accommodations that should be a plus for them, and if you need special accommodations that others don't need then that should be a minus for you.

So, my need for non-fluorescent lights is a measure of my skills, abilties, and talents? Is a person in a wheelchair incapable of doing a job just because they can't climb a flight of stairs to their office? Come on. This is 2012. The ADA has been around since 1974...

Accommodations are in place to make things equal, not give advantages.
Why would you need to put a mark on a transcript to certify that the student legitimately and fairly completed their classes/degree/certification program.
There is no qualitative difference between credit earned with accommodations and credit earned without accommodations. A distinction between the two would be nothing more than a way to brand disabled students as "less than" which is grossly inaccurate.
Personal feeling on the topic are really irrelevant, in America we at least try to give equal opportunity to all people. Disability is a protected class so no, it shouldn't be a "minus for you".

I just have a hard time seeing how it always makes things equal. When I was diagnosed, I probably could have asked for accommodations like extra time on exams, but I chose not to. I did not and still do not see why I deserved any special treatment because of my ASD. In my mind if I had ask for accommodation it would diminish the value of my degree. I do think in some cases it does equal the playing field, but I cannot help but think in many it does give an unfair advantage. I really hope I am not offending anyone.

Hope your not offending anyone- Your points are being made on a forum that if people want to succeed at college lots of times accommodations are needed. But you are doing it in a way that is not abrasive.

edit: wanted to give an example of a minor issue that I have had at work a few times.. Whenever I am told multiple instructions verbally I don't remember them. My boss would tell me and a few other people a couple instructions that should keep us busy and then go do what he needed to do. What seemed like half the time right after he left I would asking someone standing right next to me what was I supposed to do. They were always fine with telling me because they knew I was a hard worker. My boss really liked me because of this, I probably would not have gotten the job if I had listed that I had trouble listening to verbal instructions.

You might say that isn't really related to getting a degree- When I go back to college if I wanted to I could choose to have a notetaker or have the teacher send the lectures to my email. Kind of goes along with how a lot of people with aspergers have bad handwriting for why they have notetaker's.

I've just come from looking at a thread on the main forum about DSM-V. I noted that you commented in there:



Do you understand that you are atypical for someone with an Asperger's Disorder diagnosis? Do you know that many, many people diagnosed with Asperger's Disorder are unable to hold down jobs, own their own homes and take care of themselves without outside support?

Just because you personally didn't need accommodations doesn't mean every person with an Asperger's Disorder diagnosis doesn't need them.

Last edited by Jumla on 10 Apr 2012, 1:02 am, edited 1 time in total.

I wasn't diagnosed until college, so I struggled all throughout school. Nobody knew about NVLD when I was a kid, so my obvious mathematical deficits just kept being swept under the rug. I only used extended time on four tests (in two classes- stats II and calculus I) the entire time I was in college. That was the only accommodation I received, other than having a private room. (And I DID start out with a roommate.) I am proud to say that I made it through organic chemistry and integral calculus despite having NVLD. But not everybody is fortunate enough to not need accommodations.

I DO agree with you that accommodations can be overused, but in cases like mine, it truly was needed to "level the playing field," as you said. All my life I have struggled to show what I'm REALLY capable of in mathematical areas. As a child, I couldn't even see symmetry in a heart or see in 3D whatsoever. Now, my visual-spatial abilities are still horribly deficit, but I can see in 3D now and was able to understand molecular orbitals and stereochemistry. With me, my success in highly visual-spatial college courses came down to the professors. In classes where I had amazing professors who would sit down with me and teach me to fit my different learning style, I aced the courses. In classes where the professors couldn't explain it in a non-neurotypical way, there was no hope. I simply had to do what I've done all my life- rely on my photographic memory to do well. It makes me sick knowing how much I COULD have potentially learned in SO many classes had I been granted accommodations early on in my life. I feel that a lot of my potential was lost, and my failure at math has long been an inferiority complex that I will never shed. So, in conclusion, for those of us who need accommodations, it can make a world of difference.