<p>Twisted, please try to bury any worries or thoughts about grad school right now. Your focus needs to be on getting help, getting healthy, getting yourself to a position of strength.</p>
<p>There are many, many roads which lead to the same outcome. Stop driving yourself crazy by worrying about the distant future and ignoring the things you can do right now to help yourself.</p>
<p>To circle back to the initial topic, Twisted’s experience with getting notetakers illustrates a **bad, ineffective<a href=“though%20common”>/b</a> disability accommodation. Twisted is entitled to a notetaker because of her Aspergers, but in order to get a notetaker she has to get a classmate to agree to take notes for her-- yet her Aspergers makes that interaction extremely difficult. So in practice, students with Aspergers can get notetakers to help with their Aspergers only if they don’t have Aspergers symptoms. Yeah, great system.</p>
<p>^^ not all colleges work that way. Though many do encourage you to ask you friends, roommates, or housemates because they are people who are interacting with you all the time, so it’s easier for them to find out what kind of notes you need. Also a lot of colleges pay students to take notes, and some students who need notetakers prefer to give back to their friends. And the disability services office doesn’t have the time or ability to find a student in each of the classes of the student in need, let alone a good student who takes good notes. </p>
<p>One strategy that you might use twisted is talking to your profs about notetakers at the start of each semester. Explain to them that you prefer to keep your situation private so you don’t want to expose yourself by asking a bunch of students in the class to notetake, that you’d rather just find someone who’s interested. They could make an annoucement via email that they’re looking for a student to take notes for another student in the class and then connect you with whoever responds.</p>
<p>D received emails from her university saying that because of her excellent grades she was invited to take notes next semester for pay. My assumption was that it would be for some purpose like this, but I’m not sure.</p>
<p>I’m jumping in to give some random advice. My daughter who has NLD and a few other disabilities (mild CP etc), graduated from college last yr. It was important for us to find a college with a good reputation with helping disabled students. (New England College in NH). First off- no special testing was required. If your child has an IEP from HS the HS pays for an evaluation to be sent to the college. I think the biggest gift we can give our children is to teach them to be their own advocate…to ask for what they need and go for extra help etc. College is very different from HS. Parents aren’t involved. My daughter had extra time on tests, a scribe when needed, a notetakers and tutors etc. Every college has a disability office, but some colleges do it better. There is a huge population of students with some kind of disability at this school. It was very helpful for her socially to be with others who can truly understand.</p>
<p>At my old school, you sat down with an “equal access counselor” who pretty much handed me a list of accommodations and said, “okay, what is going to help you?” We each discussed our views about what would help and what wouldn’t, came up with a plan, and he sent an email explaining everything to all my professors. I met with the professors when classes started to clarify things and personalize the plan for that specific class. My professors asked the class for a volunteer to be a notetaker, she collected the notes from that person and I retrieved them from her in private later. That was a great way of doing things that I took for granted. I think that may in part be the difference between a small school and a large school. Although, of the thirty thousand something students here, there are only 1200 registered with the disabilities office. I chose this school because, as a dyscalculic, I needed a school that wouldn’t require me to take any more math because I wouldn’t have been able to pass. I thought I was making a smart decision regarding my disabilities. I had no idea the can of worms that would be opened once I got here! It’s definitely smart to look into how the disabilities office works regardless of if you think you’ll need it. My school “supports ‘self-advocacy,’” which sounds good on the surface but it really means that they are completely hands off and won’t do anything for you, and as mere students we don’t always have the authority needed to get things done.</p>
<p>Side note: Twisted, have you thought of getting a digital recorder? I can’t take notes, but mine catches everything and it really helps :)</p>
<p>Self-advocacy should mean they will wait for you to come to them with problems. Take them at their word and come to them. Hope you got some sleep last night! Some of us care and are worried about you.</p>
<p>So far from my experience, and from what I have heard at the disability club meetings, hands off here means that you ask for help and they tell you that you are on your own. But I am going to try and get in on Friday anyway, squeaky wheel gets oiled and all that. Since I started that club the disabilities office likes me, so maybe I’ve earned myself enough brownie points to get them to take a bit more interest in my success than they did before.</p>
<p>I did sleep like a normal person Sunday and Monday night, but was up until 5am on Tuesday night, and was in the library tonight until it closed at 5am working on a group project that is due this afternoon. Now I have to study for an exam that is also today. But hopefully soon this will all be a thing of the past. </p>
<p>I did talk to my old boss and he offered to let me complete my internship over the summer so that I can still keep all my references and stuff from the job, and that he’ll find something other than phone canvassing for me to do. That obnoxious political caller that always calls during dinner? That was me. I had to do a few hundred calls in a sitting, three or four sittings a week. That is what got me started in this mess, it took me hours to get through those because it was so mentally and emotionally draining and I couldn’t balance that kind of stress with school. Not a good job for an aspie at all. When I took the position I didn’t know (I’ve only known for about a month now) and I thought my phone anxiety was just shyness I’d get over. Oops.</p>
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<p>No. From the OCR pamphlet I recommended above:</p>
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<p>Evaluations at the elementary and secondary level are done by school districts because they have an obligation to make their programs accessible to students with disabilities. They have no obligation to reassess in order for students with disabilities to access college programs after graduation. Note that students at the elementary and secondary level are entitled to a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE), [Free</a> Appropriate Public Education under Section 504](<a href=“http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/edlite-FAPE504.html]Free”>Free Appropriate Public Education under Section 504). There is no such requirement at the postsecondary level, which is why the requirements on colleges and universities as to how they meet the needs of students with disabilities is different. </p>
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<p>Correct although some colleges may have something similar. Further, postsecondary institutions do not have to accept an IEP as the basis for providing academic adjustments. Again, as the OCR pamphlet states:</p>
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<p>The ADA covers both colleges and elementary and secondary schools. Title II of the ADA covers all public institutions at all levels. Title III covers private schools. Moreover, before the ADA was passed, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act required accessibility at all educational institutions receiving Federal financial assistance. The procedures implementing Section 504, on which the ADA is based and has virtually identical regulations covering educational institutions, has been in place since 1977. The law was passed in 1973. It took a sit-in in Joe Califano’s office at the old HEW to get him to finally issue the regs. Sort of.</p>
<p>Implementation of Title II of the ADA and Section 504 in educational institutions is done by ED’s Office for Civil Rights. Title III of the ADA is the responsibility of the Department of Justice, which carries out their enforcement responsibility in a flashy but haphazard manner usually aiming a university-wide issues. They are not very good when it comes to handling individual complaints. OCR operates quietly, but if you file with them you are guaranteed an investigation if they accept your complaint. I would avoid DOJ if there is concurrent jurisdiction, and because of Section 504 there will be in almost all situations (Hillsdale and Grove City Colleges excepted). </p>
<p>Also take a look at this other OCR pamphlet: [Transition</a> of Students With Disabilities To Postsecondary Education: A Guide for High School Educators](<a href=“http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/transitionguide.html]Transition”>Transition of Students With Disabilities To Postsecondary Education: A Guide for High School Educators)</p>
<p>If you are interested in seeing how one major university works with students with disabilities see: [McBurney</a> Disability Resource Center - University of Wisconsin, Madison WI](<a href=“http://www.mcburney.wisc.edu/services/]McBurney”>Services – McBurney Disability Resource Center – UW–Madison)</p>
<p>Twisted: I hope your exams are over for now. Try to get some rest after your test. I am glad you were able to reschedule the remainder of your internship. I had a similar job in 1980 handing out fliers during the Presidential campaign. At least people could cross the street to get away from me :). I cannot imagine a much more awful job for an Aspie than a phone poller. Most people just hang up these days or will give you a piece of their minds before hanging up.</p>
<p>Concentrate on getting through this week and talking with the disabilities office. Don’t leave there until you get a fair solution to your problems. Once you have your short-term deadlines rescheduled and a notetaker assigned, take a few days to rest up and get well before re-entering the race. Best wishes, and keep us posted! You will get through this with help.</p>
<p>Like astrodeb, I can’t imagine a worse job for an Aspie than cold calling. Is there <em>anything</em> else you can do? Cleaning? Fast food?</p>
<p>I haven’t been able to find much work. I live in SE Michigan and things are not good here for jobs. That was why I clung to that internship, I am 21 years old and only have 3 months paid work experience (seasonal at Borders) and a couple years of humane society volunteer work. This internship adds another four months experience, plus some GREAT networking opportunities relevant to my field and a chance to build career relevant skills… it’s just those stupid phone calls. So it’ll be a real blessing to be able to complete the internship doing something else.</p>
<p>I understand that jobs in MI are tough to find right now. Best wishes on your meeting tomorrow!</p>
<p>Thanks for the citations, tsdad. I’ve seen several inaccurate statements in this thread. There was a memorandum about the testing issues and whether or not high schools were required to do the testing, but I can’t find it anymore. It’s clearly stated in the OCR pamphlet. </p>
<p>It should be noted that although the high school is not required to do any testing for college disability accommodations, it can choose to do so. Perhaps some states/localities even have regulations to require it (they can offer more, but not less than the federal requirement).</p>
<p>I think making phone calls would NOT be the worst job for an aspie. It doesn’t involve eye contact, sensory stimulation is limited, and if they are anxious it wouldn’t show. i know someone who is an undiagonosed aspie who does 'cold calling" for a living. is he successful,
not really, but it is a job that most people would hate to do.</p>
<p>Interesting point–now I know why my son loves to talk on the phone.</p>
<p>For some aspies I can see it working out okay, as you know we’re all unique. I don’t have too much of a problem with eye contact-- it doesn’t bother me, I just have to think about it in order to figure out how much I should be looking, I do have sensory issues but none that would come into play in conversation, and my anxiety DEFINITELY shows on the phone in that it makes my small talk abilities even more dysfunctional-- and they only just barely exist as it is. In person I can fake it for a few minutes, on the phone it is really hard. Plus I have auditory processing problems and can never really hear the other person properly if I can’t see their lips move. I am not anxious in person but the phone is incredibly difficult for me, I think in person because of all the other information normal people get the conversation is slower and pauses are more acceptable than they are on the phone. I may not be using all the information hidden in the silence in in-person conversations, but I am using the time you took to convey it to catch up on everything else. </p>
<p>And then making political phone calls about health care reform, I have people screaming at me, people just plain not listening to what I was saying (we called MA during the election to make sure everyone had transportation to the polls, and some woman started yelling at me for telling her who to vote for-- I didn’t even mention a candidate), or people purposefully asking me questions that they obviously know are based on lies to put me on the spot because nobody likes political callers, or people suddenly share very personal details-- I had one woman tell me she couldn’t volunteer because she had terminal cancer, another went on a 15 minute speech about how her husband had died and she couldn’t feed her kids, I have had a few people burst into tears because they don’t have insurance and someone is dying, and all of these situations are so off the wall that I have no idea how to react. And then the callers get mad at me because I am not reacting how I am supposed to be, apparently. And calling someone who does not want to talk to me, is not interested in what I have to say, and does not want to do whatever I want them to do-- and getting them to do all those things anyway, is just not a skill I have. I’ve only just mastered making my own appointments. The last time I did calls I had a particular person I needed to talk to because he had volunteered to do something specific at an event, but apparently he hadn’t told his wife so she started yelling at me about how much she hates telemarketers and hung up before I could even explain myself.</p>
<p>Oddly enough I am great at customer service and love it. I can’t sell to save my life, but I make customers very happy people. There are specific rules to accomplish that which I have been able to pick up, it’s fairly simple. That is mainly all I did at the bookstore, and that is a huge part of what I do at the humane society. I can be pretty good with people when they aren’t behaving like lunatics.</p>
<p>I think the key is that people getting a phone poll call act unpredictably. Once you have experienced some of the awful reactions that you cited, you are understandably reluctant to have that happen again. My daughter still doesn’t like to make phone calls outside of her family due to a bad experience with a drunk father of a friend answering the phone and yelling at her. I think that it is great that you do well at the humane society. Many people would find that job too upsetting to handle. That’s why I decided to do pure science rather than the vet school track.</p>
<p>Hey, Twisted. I hope you got what you needed from the disabilities office last week and are now able to get some sleep!</p>