<p>Looking for thoughts. My son will most likely have a judicial hearing where he is allowed one advisor (current student, staff or faculty) who can’t speak at the hearing. Parents and lawyers are not allowed. My son has ADHD. This seems really unfair and seems to put him at a disadvantage. Any thoughts?</p>
<p>Yes, I agree it puts him at a disadvantage. Even without ADHD. I would hire a lawyer as an adviser, even if the lawyer cannot attend the hearing. And I would see if there’s a campus counselor that might be helpful as his advocate.</p>
<p>Sounds like a private school thing, which has its own set of rules. Also don’t expect to get much traction out of the ADHD thing. The school will expect that it be properly controlled by the student through medication. Hopefully its a non egregious, first strike thing and the student only gets a warning. GL</p>
<p>If he can fall within the category of disabled, that might be something that can have some leeway. However, that means that your son is one of the handicapped and that is something to be made clear in any venue where you want that taken into consideration. Does the school know that this is disability he has, in an official way, or it’s just now coming up? Talk to an attorney on disability rights.</p>
<p>If the advisor cannot speak at the hearing, it would be best to have a person whose presence would immediately reinforce the impact of a disability. Try to convince someone from the school Office of Disability Services to attend. In case, your son was registered with that office, he could explain why he asked that person to be his advisor and introduce him with his correct title and credentials.</p>
<p>Given that the basic defense for the alleged action seems to be the impact of ADHD, this might work better than a lawyer who could only address the procedure and rights issues involved. It might also been seen as less adversarial to the committee members.</p>
<p>He is registered with the office of disabilities. He hasn’t yet received any official charges from the school. It seems that it will be quite drawn out ruining his semester.</p>