Affirmative Action Form On College/Assistantship Admission

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I am applying for my PhD. With this I also would like to receive an assistantship.
There is an affirmative action form, which asks if you have a disability and need accommodation.
This is completely voluntary. I do not think I need accommodation; but can't and think if I fill it out yes and say I have AS, this may help me get admissions for diversity.

Further, if I do get accepted, it might be nice to have disclosed so I know I will have a supportive environment. What do you think?

I am planning an essay for coursework on exactly this issue, so I am interested in any answers. By our legislation, it seems to me that there can be no discrimination without awareness - i.e. the institution has no obligation to accommodate any need that you do not disclose, or that they do not reasonable perceive. This issue has come up a lot recently with recording lectures, using laptops to take notes, photographing the whiteboard and student bullying. It seems to me that a student who has disclosed is protected under both equality legislation (similar to ADA) and consumer legislation (provision of a service). I do not know what any lawyer would think about the legal protection that comes from disclosing "invisible" disabilities.

I am wondering about this issue too. Does disclosure have an effect on admissions? What if it has a negative effect? It's not supposed to, but I don't see what there is to prevent it from happening.

Have there been problems with people recording lectures? I always ask my instructors if it's okay before I do it, and no-one has refused to allow it (although they clearly find it a bit weird). If they ask me why I want to, I just tell them that I don't take notes well, or if I know them well I might tell them about the ADHD but not AS because it's not completely official. The exception is my Department Chair at school; she's really cool and understanding so I have told her a lot about my suspicions about and investigations into AS.

Yes, students have been told that the lecturer has copyright over the lecture and that recording is forbidden. Students have been forbidden from using laptops, and students have been forbidden from photographing the notes off the whiteboard (from their own seat, without disturbing anyone). So would labelling yourself 'disabled' from the outset make any difference? From a simple social perspective, I imagine the disability support service is more understanding of a problem if you are already on their files. Our bullying legislation works better if the bullying relates directly to disability, which means the bullies must know about or have reason to believe a person is disabled - making fun of nerds or wimps is much harder to prove as bullying.

I agree with Stuart (not just because he has a cool avatar). It is best to have it on file for legal protection. Who you disclose to after that is entirely up to you. If you don't encounter problems then no need to reveal it.

I think it would be a good idea. You never know if you're going to hit a wall and need some accommodation or other. Having it on record would be good. Sometimes, it's the little extra proof you need to convince someone you should be allowed to, say, bring your own incandescent lamp to your desk, or take notes when given instructions so you can read them later.

What I think to myself about disclosing a disability on things like that--If they rejected me because of my disability, are they the kind of school I want to go to, in the first place?

I agree that it's probably a good idea to have it on file, just in case you need it to fall back on. I've thought about doing it in case we get a new instructor who questions my reasons for wanting the recording or my dx. We're a small school, and the instructors arn't professional educators, they're professionals working in the field they teach. Everyone knows each other, especially when you've been in the program for awhile (I finish my BA in Dec. '12) so my situation is a bit different from someone at a large school.

If a lecturer is claiming copyright on their intellectual property, I'm not sure that a school could do much about it if the lecturer didn't want recording devices present. There may be some stipulation that the lecturer has to allow it because it's being presented in an educational setting as a supplement to course work (sort of an "educational use" thing) but unless it violates their contract with the college, the lecturer has the right to determine who has written or recorded copies of their copyrighted work and under what circumstances. I don't know if saying it is discriminatory to prohibit it would fly. Perhaps there is a way around it I'm not thinking of, though.

I don't know about other schools, but at my school, I have the option to have notes be taken for me so that I can pay attention to the lecture. They also allow exams to be taken in the students with disabilities center and longer test time as well. It is definitely worth letting the school know about your diagnoses.

I am disclosing. I happen to like doing this because I feel it may help as employers search for more diversity and if I am accepted, I like having this out there so it can be worked with; as opposed to being in the closet, having communication problems, and not knowing how to handle it.

An accommodation exception can and should be granted.