If you are a student with a disability, you will find the paperwork required by the disabilities office to be burdensome. At orientation, the head of the disabilities will say that she wants to make the accommodation process as easy as possible because she knows that if you have a learning disability if is not going to magically disappear one day. Then she will require you to complete paperwork and schedule a meeting with her every semester in order to receive the letters you need to give to your professors. If you have self-scheduled final exams, you will be required to fill out additional paperwork in order to receive your accommodations for them. A lot of effort for very little support.
great. but I told my parents a lot of schools have lousy accomodations and if a school has so many great other things- I am not going to eliminate it because of that.
But- i don’t really need a lot. Larger papers- which you can generally ask for and get without a plan, no scantron (same), occasionally extra time (more in math and science and since smith has no gen ed requirements I wouldn’t be taking those).
Sometimes I may need a little give for extended absences due to health issues (chronic pain disorder)- and worst case scenario- wheelchair access. I also tend to get sick easily despite being a germaphobe and avoiding sick looking people like the plague. That’s the only thing I’d really need the plan to get.
I have to do that type of thing now at my high school and its not too bad. I was actually way late on doing it this semester and I never needed my accomodations. Just got it anyway in case that changes.
Not good though that the head of disabilities says that and then the process is really hard and challenging for people. In my experience that means: they don’t know what they are doing (intending to help and just making it worse or they just don’t care at all) or they have preconceived notions about people with disabilities despite being in a job where they are supposed to work with and help those people and their families- or worst case scenario- its a subtle dig and encouragement for students with disabilities to go elsewhere and make them not feel wanted (which would be terrible, but that is doubtful as its an extreme few people go to).
I did a summer writing program at Smith and everyone was great- I got poison ivy and got one of the nastiest bugs I’ve had in years, and had what may have been an allergic reaction and went to the hospital to have it checked out- I only missed one or two classes out of the two a day for the two weeks. I also ended up needed to be carted to and from class and to and from lunch and Lamont because of pain issues. Everyone from the students, the profs (one drove me back to Lamont once when it was hot and I was waiting for the cart), the nurse (for the poison ivy)- the TA’s (one waited with me for hours at the hospital), people in charge of my house and even people not in charge were great. They all went above and beyond what I expected and despite it all I still had a great experience.
But there were less students there and it was just two weeks.
But either way, I left with an amazing impression of the school both academically and in terms of accomodations. If I have to do a little paperwork to maintain that,
its really the worst of my troubles.
Now the hard task- getting in. They went up by 600 apps this year to 5,004 total. Besides ED I, ED II, and their annual early writes- which total has at least (probably more) 250 students accepted and the ED ones already in the class. Now its just RD.
I did everything I could. I went to the program, got a letter of rec from one of my profs (who really liked me and I’m certain wrote a great letter) interviewed (conveyed my interest in Smith well and explained my unique academic situation), got great letters of rec (I didn’t elect to see them- but they were modified from recs to get into the smith program and I saw those and they were great), visited the campus twice, did well at the program, met with department heads of subjects I’m interested in (one chair will put in a good word for me with admissions), did a good supplemental essay, worked hard on my common app essay, got the financial aid stuff done and grades sent in.
Now I just have to wait. Smith is one of my top (if not the top) choices and I would really consider going- unless I got really bad financial aid or something but a student I met while at the program said their aid made Smith cost less
than their state school, U Mass Amherst. So if I get in, I know I’ll be taken care of financially.
But back to the subject of this post- I can see how for those with more learning disability related issues, the paperwork would be hard and time consuming. (I used to see double as a kid and I could never read anything). I can’t imagine what being dyslexic or in general a slow reader, having ADHD, etc would be like when doing a task like that. Hopefully someone helps those kids out- anyone from teachers, other staff, or fellow classmates- I know I certaintly would.
I think the key is not to suffer in silence and know how to advocate for yourself.
Yes, it can be hard and you feel weak or different. But it is doable. And teachers would rather you do that than struggle behind the scenes and not do well.
I’m sure if a school is epically bad with accomodations or every now and then where you get that one teacher who just won’t have it and discriminates (we’ve all been there at some point) it is harder, but I doubt Smith is that kind of place.
Although, it does make reasonable sense to allow people with severe issues (or anyone with accomodations really) that make it hard for them to redo the paperwork- just to sign something saying they don’t want their accomodations changed and would like to continue them for the next semester- and then they’re given the same copy of accomodations with a different date and season at the top of the page- that’s the only thing about the process that really bugged me. It is genuinely hard for some people and they have to do it a total of 8 times in four years. That can’t be easy. There has to be a better way.
Just my two cents. I love Smith so worst comes to worst, I just try to go to class when I have pain episodes and stay in my room after class on those days. Its rarely entirely debilitating and as a result of this- my already high pain tolerance from sports (was a goalie and defender in soccer for ten years) has gotten even higher. I can cope pretty well, and after 3 years of dealing with this- I know my limits. I know what I can do and what I can’t (or really shouldn’t at least).
And while Smith is not close to me (3-4.5 hour drive depending on who in my family is doing the driving), it isn’t hours and hours away. If need be, someone in my family can come and provide extra support in an emergency (hopefully there won’t be any, but the comfort and ability for them to come is always good. My Dad gets to Smith in three hours with regular driving. He could probably get there quicker in an actual emergency- watch out Northhampton lol).
Hello!
I am a Smithie. If you would like to talk with someone who works in the Admissions office, please let me know. I can put you in touch with one of the Admissions officers.
The OP seems to have it “in” for Smith. Take this person’s post with a grain of salt. I have heard many good things about that office.