<p>Just to add: Perhaps you should not take it for granted that the professor understands how serious asthma can be, when it flares up–requiring hospitalization in some cases, and even being life-threatening. Since you have been living with it, you know–but it’s possible that the professor does not.</p>
<p>^^This is an excellent point. I didn’t really believe in asthma until my 2 year old was hospitalized. I think you could start with saying you have a history of quick onset life threatening asthma attacks that have required hospitalization and that your doctors have advised you to seek medical attention immediately when XYZ occurs. </p>
<p>If you can’t get the college clinic doctor to provide a note, could you get your home doctor to send an email confirming your medical history? I had my son’s records sent to the school clinic before he arrived on campus.</p>
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<p>Probably the reason you don’t need to be hospitalized is because of your preventative routine. Part of the preventative routine is seeking medical care and monitoring when you have an attack. This is especially important when you change environments. You did exactly right. No matter what happens with the exam - your health is more important.</p>
<p>If you were my son I’d advise you to talk to the professor again, with notes from clinic and email from home doctor. If the professor didn’t allow you to make up the exam, I would advise you to go to your academic advisor. At some point I would want to get involved if you weren’t having success. This doesn’t seem like it should be that difficult a situation to sort out if the professor has the information. It does seem to me it needs to be dealt with very quickly. It is probably still early enough to withdraw from this class if there is a real problem with the professor.</p>
<p>QuantMech has a very good point. You might have to educate the professor a little about the condition, even to the point of saying (if it is true), “My doctor has told me that when I have one of these attacks, if my usual medication doesn’t work – which it didn’t this time – I need to get medical help immediately or I could die.”</p>
<p>The main point you need to convey to the professor is that the asthma attack occurred in the morning, and it was the asthma attack that made you miss the exam. You needed to get medical attention for the asthma attack immediately (and you have the documentation). The virus is irrelevant, and you shouldn’t mention it. The asthma attack is what is important.</p>
<p>coffeeaddict - please let us know what happens.</p>
<p>Contact your class dean. Give the student health center permission to release the information regarding the incident to the class dean and/or the professor to validate your class. Follow up with e-mail (so this way you have a paper trail.)</p>
<p>My daughter (who got sick during finals and had to be treated in student health) called me when she got sick and I told her to have student health contact her class dean, the dean communicated to the professor and the professor rescheduled her exam.</p>
<p>“Go to the disabilities office anyway. They can intervene in this area . . .”</p>
<p>I agree with gladgradad.</p>
<p>As a professor, I have to tell you that usually when a professor gives an answer such as the one you were given, it’s because they’ve been burned by someone in the past who took advantage of them. It’s sad to think that there’s anyone out there that would lie about: having an asthma attack, a dead grandmother or even a car accident, but unfortunately most of us have seen it all. I agree with the poster who said that you need to register with the disabilities office before this happens, because it’s hard to get retroactive accomodations. I’m sure you had a form to fill out every September when you were in high school that explained your condition to the nurse and your teachers. There are similar ones in college that will cover all kinds of eventualities – from the one where you miss an appointment due to an asthma attack to the one where you request a new roommate because your current one has gotten a cat or taken up smoking, neither of which could possibly be good for asthma.</p>
<p>Dear Momzie, as long as the school receives $ from the federal government, the student is covered by Section 504. Under Section 504, there is no required registration process; a student does not and did not have to register with the disabilities office to get accommodations and these are not “retroactive accommodations.” And students don’t have “a form they fill out in September in high school” to get accommodations in high school. The school (and professor) may rightfully ask a student for documentation of this incident. </p>
<p>OP, my kid had the same problem at a top lac. Please find the disabilities office or ADA coordinator. It may be helpful to document your condition with them should other problems arise, but you were not under any obligation to disclose any information ahead of time.</p>
<p>I had a classmate who infrequently but strategically faked asthma attacks for convenience. He was quite convincing. I remember walking out with him once so I could assist him to the medical office and after he stepped out of the classroom the widest grin broke across his face. He was also able to self-incite a certain level of anxiety to bring about a bronchospastic response. He was quite a genius in chemstry as well. These days he’s an MD/PhD at the FDA. Just sayin’.</p>
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<p>Not everyone with asthma will qualify for the protective provisions of Section 504. The asthma must be a “disability,” which has a technical meaning that can be rather difficult to satisfy.</p>
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And even if it were, it would be a contract of adhesion due to the uneven bargaining position of the parties and no consideration given. In other words, " it ain’t no binding contract"</p>
<p>Hopefully, the professor in question will “see the light” and make a reasonable accomodation for OP. If not, i would be shocked if the dean/disabilities office didn’t overrule the professor and ensure justice was done. If all reasonable means fail - the OP can go for “internet justice”. (Name the school, professor and dean to local media outlets and internet forums with a copy of hospital form with redacted personal information.) You only need one outlet to pick it up. Just ask Progressive Insurance how it feels - they couldn’t settle fast enough after “defending their policyholder’s killer”.</p>
<p>"Not everyone with asthma will qualify for the protective provisions of Section 504. The asthma must be a “disability,” which has a technical meaning that can be rather difficult to satisfy. "</p>
<p>Actually, the government has gone out of its way to make it <em>easier</em> for people to qualify under ADA. In 2008, the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act of 2008 became law. It specifically says that an impairment that is episodic is a disability if it would substantially limit a major life activity when active. Breathing is, and has always been considered, a major life activity. So a person who has active asthma attacks enough that they interfere with breathing <em>is</em> covered while having an attack.</p>
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<p>I am not an expert in this area, but I have worked with students who have disabilities enough to think that this is a misstatement of the rule. Either a student has a disability or she does not–there is no such thing as disabled while having an asthma attack.</p>
<p>I do hope that the OP was able to reach an agremeent with the prof.</p>
<p>Amesie, I’m linking the information for you so you can read it for yourself. The fact that a student has an episodic illness that limits a life activity while having this episode <em>DOES</em> meet the definition of a disability. The govt went so far as to actually list asthma as one of the conditions to which it was specifically referring. So if this student has asthma bad enough that it interferes with his ability to breathe and this student needed medical attention for it, then yes, the student is covered and, if the professor does not ‘reach an agreement’ with the student, the student should ask the disabilities office for help. </p>
<p>[Questions</a> and Answers on the Final Rule Implementing the ADA Amendments Act of 2008](<a href=“http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/regulations/ada_qa_final_rule.cfm]Questions”>Questions and Answers on the Final Rule Implementing the ADA Amendments Act of 2008 | U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission)</p>
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<li>Can impairments that are episodic or in remission be considered disabilities?</li>
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<p>Yes. The ADAAA and the final regulations specifically state that an impairment that is episodic or in remission meets the definition of disability if it would substantially limit a major life activity when active. This means that chronic impairments with symptoms or effects that are episodic rather than present all the time can be a disability even if the symptoms or effects would only substantially limit a major life activity when the impairment is active. The Appendix provides examples of impairments that may be episodic, including epilepsy, hypertension, asthma, diabetes, major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia. An impairment such as cancer that is in remission but that may possibly return in a substantially limiting form will also be a disability under the ADAAA and the final regulations. [Section 1630.2(j)(1)(vii) and corresponding Appendix section]</p>
<p>by chance does your prof have a policy that allows you to drop your lowest grade? I had a prof in school that would not excuse a test for any reason what so ever, but you could drop your lowest grade at the end of the year - so if you missed a test and received a zero, that was your lowest grade that was dropped. One of the girls in my class was scheduled to go for her citizenship test in this country on a day of an exam and he didn’t waive it for that either. that wound up being her dropped score.</p>
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<p>The student was SICK in student health services when an exam was taking place. By what level of insanity should a student have to register in advance the possibility of becoming sick, and term it a disability?</p>
<p>Seriously. Retroactive accommodations in case of emergency should not be a problem. Especially when said emergency can be documented by the on-campus student health center and condition causing said emergency can be documented by a letter from the student’s doctor. What if it was the student’s first asthma attack ever? Should they not get help because they weren’t registered in advance?</p>
<p>Based on the theory that it’s the student’s backside and he’s the one who has to cover it:</p>
<p>In addition to doing the very sensible things already outlined in this thread, the student may want to contact the academic advising office and explore the possibility of dropping the course. If the ultimate result of his other efforts is that he is stuck with a grade of zero on this exam, it may not be possible for him to get a decent grade in the course, and dropping it might be a good idea. </p>
<p>During his visit to academic advising, the student would need to find out whether dropping the course is still possible at this time or whether the drop deadline has passed, and he would need to find out what the consequences of dropping the course would be. Is this a course that is part of a sequence required for his major, where he would be behind schedule if he did not complete it? Would dropping the course put his total number of credits for the semester below the minimum required for full-time status, and if so, what are the consequences of that? Would dropping the course now mean that he would have to take a very challenging courseload in a future semester, with one more course than usual, or does he have enough AP credits that this would not be necessary?</p>
<p>It may turn out that the consequences of dropping the course are practically negligible (especially if the course is outside of his major). In that case, dropping the course might be the simplest solution to the immediate problem.</p>
<p>But at the same time, the student should ask the academic advisor what he can do to avoid future problems of the same type. He could have another asthma attack at a time when an exam is scheduled. If that happens, what is the correct course of action? There may be a preferred way to handle this situation, and he should know what it is. Otherwise, he may worry unnecessarily about the possibility of ill-timed asthma attacks for the rest of his time in college, and that’s no way to live.</p>