Timely reminder that disabilities are fluid. A person may be symptomatic one day and fine the next. A student may not need accommodations during the semester, but the end of the term rush may make accommodations very necessary. This does NOT mean the student is faking it or taking advantage of you.
Any other neurodivergent folks get every question wrong in the university's cyber security training or is that just me? I can almost always think of an exception to an answer and am currently failing mine.
I love the Job Accommodation Network (JAN), but I am a bit surprised that agendas for meetings or clear objectives for meetings isn't an accommodation (for any disability but esp. executive functioning and memory)?
Yes, it's best practice, I know. I need something that proves to HR why I need this. Why meetings with no structure and 100% flexibility impair my memory, ability to organize my mind, plan, & etc
Oh the irony of an academic who gets a lot of traction for talking about Long COVID, yet has so far spent years keeping his social media inaccessible. Even when he's been gently asked to provide alt text & image description and has been linked to information on how to do it.
How much do I trust academics who claim to care, but ignore even simple ways of providing accessibility? Not terribly much. #Ableism#AcademicAbleism#SciComm
Before expressing your disdain for ADHD students who "need to learn to manage their conditions" and learn that deadlines exist, check yourself. How many of the deadlines you encounter are truly hard deadlines?
Also, unless you're helping them "learn to manage their condition," shut up.
"PhD graduates in science, technology, engineering, and medicine in the U.S. who were born with disabilities or became disabled before age 25 earn $14,360 less per year in academia than those without disabilities."
The first Annual Disabled Student Survey is the largest ever carried out into university accessibility in the UK. They received over 1,300 responses from disabled students and guess what? #HigherEd has a serious problem with #AcademicAbleism.
For those who don't know, you can file an official complaint with the U.S. Office of Civil Rights if your university discriminates against you, and this includes disability discrimination. Will anything change? Honestly, probably not. Will the process take a long time? Most likely. Will there at least be some sort of record? Yes. This last part is why I even suggest the idea.
Seems like time for a reminder to faculty and academic staff that you do NOT need to know a student's diagnosis. You just need to follow their approved accommodations. That's actually the bare minimum in terms of supporting disabled students.
In the US, you have no right to their diagnosis whatsoever. None. Don't ask. Don't bully them. Don't make them feel bad for needing accommodations. Don't be an ass.
If you consider yourself an ally of disabled students, faculty, and staff, ask yourself how many barriers you've challenged in your workplace, department, office, lab. Disclosing #disability in and of itself is often a challenge for disabled folks. Every time we have to explain our disability in relation to an inaccessible form or discriminatory policy, that's work. You can identify and challenge those barriers too.
"Reconsider your course design." Louder for the folks in the back.
Rather than thinking of disabled students as the enemy creating more work, ask yourself how you can make your course more accessible from the start. How can you build in more support? What changes reduce the need for accommodations to begin with?
Might we suggest it's a good time to add anti-ableism to the platform? Including kicking some ass on UC, CSU, and CA's community colleges, who get away with even more than K-12 do. #UCAccessNow#AcademicAbleism