<p>About the public restroom thing: Why do they need to poop in their dorm? You can usually find single-occupancy restrooms (or at least rarely-used ones) somewhere on campus. Just don’t hold it in and wait to leave for that restroom until the very last minute.</p>
<p><a href=“and%20we%20actually%20did%20have%20a%20student%20who%20did%20something%20similar%20-%20was%20urinating%20in%20bottles%20and%20keeping%20them%20in%20his%20room.%20It%20got%20so%20the%20entire%20floor%20smelled,%20and%20once%20the%20hall%20director%20found%20out%20they%20kicked%20him%20out%20of%20housing”>quote</a>.
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<p>My S’s freshman roommate did this, too. When S found out midway through first semester, he requested a room change. They let him move but did nothing to the other kid – in fact, they assigned him a new roommate in the spring! 
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<p>Btw the pooping in boxes or peeing in bottles don’t sound like a phobia exactly. Seems like a different type of neurosis. Maybe a psych major can weigh in.</p>
<p>Thoses phobias have names: * paruresis * and * parcopresis *.</p>
<p>Would you like to specify which phobia have names? We’re talking about more this two things here. :)</p>
<p>This was one our favorites when the kids were little. Great gift for kids that are potty training and when they grow up it’s a wonderful bathroom book for guests :-)</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Everyone-Poops-My-Body-Science/dp/0916291456/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1408805808&sr=1-3&keywords=everyone+poops+hardcover”>http://www.amazon.com/Everyone-Poops-My-Body-Science/dp/0916291456/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1408805808&sr=1-3&keywords=everyone+poops+hardcover</a></p>
<p>Thanks to this thread, I am now contemplating adding PooPourri to my college dorm shopping list
<a href=“Girls Don't Poop - PooPourri.com - YouTube”>Girls Don't Poop - PooPourri.com - YouTube;
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<p>Didn’t notice that earlier. </p>
<p>You’d be surprised at how much light a computer monitor can emit in a darkened room. </p>
<p>I had a college roommate who was so addicted to computer-based MUD games to the point he’d play them till 4 am or later. </p>
<p>Due to the sheer amount of light and the noise from the computer/keyboard, I ended up not getting much sleep until I had a talk with him early in the semester which resulted in an agreement that if he plays past midnight, he needs to go elsewhere to play so I can get enough sleep for my early morning classes. </p>
<p>Granted, I was helped by the fact his addiction was such he missed a week of his early morning classes at one point and his Prof approached me to give him the message to show up to his office to explain his absences. </p>
<p>Haven’t read the whole thread but had an acquaintance who attended a sports camp and ultimately had to move out of the dorm for the week because he needed to have the windows open. Turns out he had a mild oc disorder and felt that if there wasn’t enough air they were going to suffocate. (The roommates saw things differently and wanted the window closed.)</p>
<p>Some of this stuff runs deeper than just “quirks”. Not easy to find middle ground. </p>
<p>Yes, and what concerns me is that colleges usually make the person who complains move out–not the one with the fear or complex. That is why I think schools need to require disclosure of these things to the school’s office of residential life (not to anyone else), and stipulate that failure to disclose can result in the student’s removal from the dorm at their expense if a problem with a roommate results. While having a fear of the dark may seem harmless in comparison to some other roommate issues, nonetheless there’s a difference between behavior that is rude or inconsiderate and behavior that is obsessive or phobic. In the first case, the person can potentially be persuaded to change or compromise, whereas in the second the person is incapable of change. </p>
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<p>Well, there’s the answer. Who knew it was so simple?</p>
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<p>I’m curious as to how any college…especially one receiving any Federal/State/Local funding can attempt to consider, much less implement such a rule considering it is highly likely to single out folks covered by the ADA and thus, be in violation of it on its face…</p>
<p>Any lawyers willing to chime in and expand on this?</p>
<p>For overly-sheltered kids, an unsympathetic roommate might actually be a good thing.</p>
<p>Not a lawyer, but so long as the school makes reasonable accommodations for the student with a doctor-verified illness or disability, wouldn’t that comply? Also, many schools offer special services for things like learning disabilities, but charge extra for them. That apparently does not violate the law. So the student needing a private toilet may need to pay for a special room.</p>
<p>Needing the light to sleep on can be sensory processing (and not a teen being difficult - but the teen probably has no idea why he needs the light on all night). Proprioception is the sense of knowing where your body is - and if a student can’t feel where he is in the dark, keeping lights on all night would allow him to open his eyes and see where he is. Sensory processing issues happen in individuals who are not on the autism spectrum, too. There are other ways to help that individual know where he is in bed in the dark. Here is one web page with an explanation and some ideas if you’re interested <a href=“http://noahsworldllc.com/sensory-processing-disorders-in-children-with-autism”>http://noahsworldllc.com/sensory-processing-disorders-in-children-with-autism</a> </p>
<p>You don’t need an overhead light on to see where you are. </p>
<p>@Julliet, circadian rhythms are actually quite sensitive to low levels of light.
“Even dim light can interfere with a person’s circadian rhythm and melatonin secretion. A mere eight lux—a level of brightness exceeded by most table lamps and about twice that of a night light—has an effect, notes Stephen Lockley, a Harvard sleep researcher. Light at night is part of the reason so many people don’t get enough sleep, says Lockley, and researchers have linked short sleep to increased risk for depression, as well as diabetes and cardiovascular problems.”
<a href=“Blue light has a dark side - Harvard Health”>http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletters/Harvard_Health_Letter/2012/May/blue-light-has-a-dark-side/</a>
OK they say about twice the level of a night light, but all night lights are not identical, and also how much light is also coming in the window or under the door from the hallway, etc? I’m not saying a night light is going to kill everyone, but I think if someone doesn’t want it, the person with the fear of darkness should be the one to deal with it, just like a roommate should not be pressured into living with a smoker if that’s not acceptable to them. Personally I find it more difficult to sleep with a night light or comparable light coming in from outdoors.</p>
<p>Awfully judgemental reactions to a kid who has a problem and is going outside his/her comfort level by attending college. If we were talking about a kid with a learning disability or diabetes or a peanut allergy, everyone would be piling on to recommend compassion and figuring out a “workaround” (including the other roomie moving out but without making the kid with the issues feel like toxic waste).</p>
<p>Why should the kid disclose unless we’re going to ask everyone with anorexia or near-sightedness or gluten sensitivity or a peanut allergy to disclose as well? All of these issues can impact the other roommate (sometimes to a significant degree- ever live with someone who spent hours in the bathroom vomiting every day? Not a walk in the park). But some disabilities we are compassionate about and others are not.</p>
<p>Very interesting.</p>
<p>If the college in question didn’t allow the roommate to request a transfer, I’d say this was a problem. But sometimes kids get roomed with drug abusers, sex addicts, kids selling Oxy out of the dorm room. Having a roommate with a psychiatric disorder is worse than these???</p>
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<p>Actually, if you remember the peanut allergy thread from sometime last year, the majority of people thought that the school shouldn’t bend over backwards and inconvenience 99.9% of the student body just for one or two students. </p>
<p>Eating disorders are serious business, and I would say the same about them. A student with full blown anorexia or bulimia should be in treatment. I do think it’s a bit much to ask for a student to have to watch her roommate gradually kill herself. The fear, worry and sense of responsibility would certainly affect the healthy student’s ability to focus on her studies, don’t you think? </p>
<p>I agree with @blossom. How about a little compassion for someone who’s struggling with a phobia (or a psychological issue, if you prefer to call it that) that certainly doesn’t make their life any easier? I’m not saying that roommates should bend over backwards to accommodate someone if it’s affecting their own lives, but a little tolerance and understanding, even while requesting that room transfer, never hurt anyone. </p>