Disability Services at Uni

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I'm Canadian, but am currently debating going to Uni in Louisiana, as I want to get away from my family at some point in my life and am afraid that if I take small steps, I will never get away. I'm afraid I might find the boundaries of my comfort zone and just stop, rather than pushing back, so I feel that a clean break might be the best way to go. (besides, I know some really nice people down there and I could wear my sandals year round!)

Anyway, I was looking up the disability services at schools down there and most of them say, very specifically, that they do not offer assistance to students with "social disabilities" including anything that makes it difficult to understand other people, or to deal with social settings. Is this a problem at most Unis?

I'm currently trying to get my act together to get a dx, as I thought that it would help me at school to be able to go to the department for students with disabilities and say "Hey, can you help me where I need it?" I thought that that way I would have somewhere I knew that it was safe to go for help.

Now I'm discovering that even with a dx, I likely wouldn't get help. Why is this?

And, to sweeten the deal, the one school I'm looking at (the one I want to go to the most) requires all international students to join this "Coffee Club" and attend functions. I mean, YIKES!!

Any thoughts/comments/ideas?

I don't know about other colleges, but the Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, Georgia has great services for people on the spectrum. My suggestion is don't trust their websites. Actually call and ask what their services are. Websites aren't always up to date or accurate, and the spectrum is such a new issue that support may not be publicized yet.

My school has pretty good services although the only thing ive ever taken advantage of is using my laptop or the computer lab at AAP (the disablity office) to take my tests which is good because teachers in HS for me either subconciously or conciously would take points off for my handwriting. The only problem Ive had with my school is I wanted to take a public speaking class to become more comfortable with it not realising that the teacher was crazy about nonverbal communication and eye contact so I ended up getting a C- (which I want to protest but I dont know if I will have any luck.)

My school is big on disabled services. Hell, the wheelchair basketball team gets more attention than the regular basketball team. Whenever I'm at odds with the teachers I use the services of the disabled student advocates and it's helped my grades on more than one occassion.

Here, the law requires support to disabled persons, including for asperger's, but my uni was completely hopeless in providing help. They had a disability service, but the people there knew nothing about asperger's and how to deal with it, so I was just left to struggle on my own through uni (to be fair, I didn't actually get a dx until my 3rd year at uni, but I'd been in contact with them since starting and they knew I had 'asperger's-like traits' (beurocratese for "I know you have it, but can't say so in case you don't have it and I need to cover my arse later")).

My college is good at giving me accoudations. Such as use of computer for tests, seperate location for tests, and extended time for tests. Also a note taker.

I am going to college in September and I will be getting services for AS. I had a 504 Plan in high school and it transfers over to college. With my services I will get more time to complete assignments and tests, I will get to complete tests in a quiet area (in the resource centre), I will get to use a tape recorder and/or note taker, and I will get to go to the resource centre each week to keep track of my grades. It should be really helpful.

I think it's odd that it stated students with social disabilities specifically. Maybe you could talk to someone about it. AS doesn't just affect socialisation.

Currently, the college I'll be attending is planning to refuse services on the grounds I never got any when I was in high school. Apparently, I'm "normal" enough. So I have to talk to this person and attend some meeting to say why I need these services, like somebody to organize me, etc.

So what happens if you did not get a DX until after 18 and did not receive any special needs services in High School. Are you left to fend for yourself. I see a problem with that.

That pretty much is the case. I did get services up until 6th grade, then was mainstreamed afterwards. Thanks for ruining my life!

I received services until the 8th grade then was cut off. I did not ask for any services while in college however. I felt it better to deal with the teachers directly (only had one who was a real bully and got through his courses without too many problems).

Besides, the disabilities office at ECC could not even help a parapalegic be successful in college. I am sure they would have laughed in my face.

Under US law, the universities have to offer you accademic accomodations and if you live in the dorms modifications as required.

For accademics my school tested my performance on standard test type scenarios, reading ability etc and came up with a list of modifications for my learning disabilities (extended exam time, private exam room w/o floresecent lights, access to computer, doing digital logic in colored pencils on graph paper, note taking assistance)

For Autism they gave me a private (non shared) dorm room in a "serious/grad student" dorm - not a lot of drunks/rude undergrads or loud music and explained the symptoms to my professors. I also got a grad student doing research on AS to "help me with life skills" as part of a thesis.

Still I had to come up with a list of what might help and why. The only really down side is that once I was registered the local Medical school and the psychology department seemed to think that I had pink eyes, pink ears, while fur and was generally interchangable with lab rats.