ADHD - registering as disability in college?

WasatchWriter
Mon, 29 Feb 2016 04:38:36 +0000

If you don’t get it on the books, if you suddenly need an accommodation, you might have to wait for weeks for it to take effect. Colleges are not obliged to apply accommodations retroactively; instructors make that call, and they are not equally nice.

If you get it on the books from the start, you can “activate” it immediately, starting in week six, say, if that’s when you need it.

I frequently have students who hand me a list of accommodations on Day One. Then they pick and choose when they want to use them during the semester. Not using it for Test A doesn’t mean they can’t use it for Test B. So I often have kids say, No, I don’t want isolated testing this time. (Which makes my life easier.) And if they want it the next time, OK. I must comply.

The only downside I see is that an instructor who sees the list of accommodations may develop an unconscious attitude toward a student. Not a problem mostly, but maybe a problem in the major – when it comes to special stuff, like being a candidate for lab supervisor, or getting job recommendations.

So I’ve had students who selectively give instructors their list of accommodations.

But you can’t do that if you don’t do the paperwork up front.